List of multiplayer online battle arena games

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This is a list of multiplayer online battle arena games, sorted chronologically. Information regarding date of release, developer, platform, setting and notability is provided when available.

List

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.
YearGameDeveloperPlatform Free-to-play Still playableNotes
1989 Herzog Zwei Technosoft Sega Genesis NoNo Herzog Zwei has been cited as an inspiration to the developers of Warcraft , StarCraft , Dune II , and Command & Conquer [1] [2] [3] and is also considered a precursor to the MOBA genre. [4] [5]
1998 Future Cop: LAPD EA Redwood Shores PlayStation, Windows, Mac OS NoNo Future Cop: LAPD is well known for inspiring MOBA games like DotA and League of Legends . [6] [7]
2003 Defense of the Ancients Eul, Guinsoo, IceFrog Windows, Mac See NotesYesCustom map that requires installation of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos or Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne .
2008 Minions Casual Collective BrowserYesYes
2009 Avalon Heroes WeMade Entertainment WindowsYesDiscontinuedOfficially shut down on February 8, 2013.
2009 Demigod Gas Powered Games WindowsNoYesFirst commercial game inspired by DotA. [8]
2009 League of Legends Riot Games Windows, MacYesYes
2010 Heroes of Newerth S2 Games, Frostburn Studios Windows, Mac, Linux YesDiscontinuedBecame free to play in July 2011. Servers shut down June 19, 2022. [9] Garena bought the rights of the game from S2 in May 2015 and founded Frostburn Studios to maintain it.
2010 Monday Night Combat Uber Entertainment Windows, Xbox 360NoYes
2010 Realm of the Titans Ningbo Shengguang TianyiWindowsYesDiscontinuedDiscontinued in all regions except China.
2011 Bloodline Champions Stunlock StudiosWindowsYesYes
2011 Rise of Immortals: Battle for Graxia Petroglyph Games WindowsYesDiscontinuedOfficially shut down since June 2013. [10]
2012 Awesomenauts Ronimo Games Windows, Mac, Linux, Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, Xbox OneYesYes2D sidescrolling MOBA game.
2012 Guardians of Middle-earth Monolith Productions Xbox 360, PS3, WindowsNoYesGame based around The Lord of the Rings film series . [11] No longer available on PlayStation Store and Steam. [12] [13]
2012 Super Monday Night Combat Uber Entertainment WindowsYesDiscontinued
2012 Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes Mythic Entertainment WindowsYesDiscontinuedOfficially shut down on March 29, 2013. [14]
2013 Dota 2 Valve Windows, Mac, Linux [15] YesYesSequel to Defense of the Ancients. [16]
2013 Panzar Panzar StudioWindowsYesYes
2014 Adventure Time: Battle Party Cartoon Network BrowserYesDiscontinuedMOBA based on popular TV series, Adventure Time. [17]
2014 Dawngate Waystone GamesWindowsYesDiscontinuedOfficially shut down since March 2015. [18]
2014 Fates Forever Hammer and Chisel iOS YesDiscontinuedOfficially shut down since October 2015.
2014 Prime World Nival WindowsYesDiscontinuedShut down on March 31, 2021. [19]
2014 Vainglory Super Evil Megacorp iOS, Android, WindowsYesYesAnnounced in November 2014
2014 Smite Hi-Rez Studios Windows, Xbox One, PS4YesYesMOBA based around different cultures spiritual entities and in over-the-shoulder Third Person perspective. [20]
2015 Heroes of the Storm Blizzard Entertainment Windows, MacYesYesThe game brings various Blizzard characters together as playable heroes, as well as different battlegrounds based on Warcraft, Diablo, StarCraft, and Overwatch universes.
2015 Infinite Crisis Turbine, Inc. WindowsYesDiscontinuedOfficially shut down as of August 14, 2015. [21]
2015 Sins of a Dark Age Ironclad Games WindowsYesDiscontinued
2015 Strife S2 GamesWindows, Mac, LinuxYesDiscontinuedReleased May 22, 2015. Servers became inaccessible in September 2018.
2015 Arena of Fate Crytek Black Sea WindowsYesDiscontinuedLast known state was Closed Beta in 2016. The developers were purchased by SEGA in 2017.
2015 Honor of Kings TiMi Studio Group iOS, AndroidYesYesReleased November 26, 2015. Released internationally in 2017 as Arena of Valor .
2016 Paragon Epic Games Windows, PlayStation 4YesDiscontinuedMOBA in third person perspective. Servers shut down on April 26, 2018. [22]
2016 Warhammer 40,000: Dark Nexus Arena Whitebox InteractiveWindowsYesDiscontinuedOfficially shut down on March 31, 2016.
2016 Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Moonton iOS, AndroidYesYesReleased July 14, 2016.
2017 Star Wars: Force Arena Netmarble iOS, AndroidYesDiscontinuedReleased January 12, 2017. In-app purchases disabled as of December 19, 2018. No longer accepting new players as of January 17, 2019, and servers were permanently shut down on March 18, 2019. [23]
2017 Arena of Valor TiMi Studio Group iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch [24] YesYesReleased August 10, 2017.
2017 Battlerite Stunlock StudiosWindowsYesYesReleased November 8, 2017.
2017 Gigantic MotigaWindows, Xbox OneYesDiscontinuedThe game focuses on team-based action combat in a third-person perspective with heroes battling alongside a massive guardian. Officially shut down on July 31, 2018. [25]
2017 Master X Master NCSOFT WindowsYesDiscontinuedOfficially shut down January 31, 2018.
2018 AirMech Carbon GamesWindows, Google Chrome YesYesInspired by Herzog Zwei .
2019 Marvel Super War NetEase Games iOS, AndroidYesNoOfficially shut down on June 18, 2024. [26]
2020 Bleeding Edge Ninja Theory Windows, Xbox OneNoYesTeam brawler video game. Ninja Theory announced that there would no longer be any content updates, but the game is still playable on Xbox and PC. [27]
2020 Eternal Return Nimble NeuronWindowsYesYesMOBA with battle royale mechanics.
2020 League of Legends: Wild Rift Riot Games iOS, Android, consolesYesYesModified version of League of Legends for mobile and consoles.
2021 Pokémon Unite TiMi Studio Group iOS, Android, Nintendo SwitchYesYes Pokémon themed MOBA developed in partnership with Tencent Games

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<i>Herzog Zwei</i> 1989 video game

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<i>Defense of the Ancients</i> 2003 video game

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<i>Dota 2</i> 2013 video game

Dota 2 is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve. The game is a sequel to Defense of the Ancients (DotA), a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Dota 2 is played in matches between two teams of five players, with each team occupying and defending their own separate base on the map. Each of the ten players independently controls a powerful character known as a "hero" that all have unique abilities and differing styles of play. During a match players collect experience points and items for their heroes to defeat the opposing team's heroes in player versus player combat. A team wins by being the first to destroy the other team's "Ancient", a large structure located within their base.

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<i>Luna Online</i> 2007 massively multiplayer online video game

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">The International (esports)</span> Annual Dota 2 world championship

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<i>AirMech</i> 2014 multiplayer online battle arena video game

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<i>Strife</i> (2015 video game) Multiplayer online battle arena video game

Strife was a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game developed by S2 Games. This is S2 Games' second MOBA game aimed to a more casual player base than Heroes of Newerth, most notably incorporating various gameplay elements that focus on heavily reducing player toxicity and introducing persistent mechanics outside of the arena, including Pets and Crafting. The game uses an engine called Kodiak which is based on the Heroes of Newerth with some improvements on lighting and physics.

<i>Vainglory</i> (video game) Multiplayer online battle arena video game

Vainglory is a free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game, developed and published by Super Evil Megacorp for iOS, Android and PC. As many games in its genre, Vainglory's gameplay focuses on player versus player battles, with players split into two teams of three or five with the ultimate goal of destroying the opposing team's base. The game was released for iOS on November 16, 2014, after being soft-launched for over half a year, with the Android version being released on July 2, 2015. A Mac and Microsoft Windows version of the game was released in July 2018. Through cross-platform play, players on all four platforms can play together simultaneously.

<i>Paragon</i> (video game) Video game

Paragon was a free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game developed and published by Epic Games, powered by their own Unreal Engine 4. The game started buy-to-play early access in March 2016, and then launched free-to-play access to its open beta started in August 2016. After failed attempts to make the game sustainable and having trouble keeping a player base, Epic Games made the decision to shut down Paragon servers in April 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The International 2017</span> 2017 esports tournament

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">The International 2018</span> 2018 esports tournament

The International 2018 (TI8) was the eighth iteration of The International, an annual Dota 2 world championship esports tournament. Hosted by Valve, the game's developer, TI8 followed a year-long series of tournaments awarding qualifying points, known as the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC), with the top eight ranking teams being directly invited to the tournament. In addition, ten more teams earned invites through qualifiers that were held in June 2018, with the group stage and main event played at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver in August. The best-of-five grand finals took place between OG and PSG.LGD, with OG winning the series 3–2. Their victory was considered a Cinderella and underdog success story, as they had come from the open qualifiers and were not favored to win throughout the competition.

The International 2019 (TI9) was the ninth iteration of The International, an annual Dota 2 world championship esports tournament. Hosted by Valve, the game's developer, the tournament followed a year-long series of awarding qualifying points, known as the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC), with the top 12 ranking teams being directly invited to the tournament, which took place in August 2019 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai. In addition, six more teams earned invites through regional qualifiers played in July 2019. The grand finals took place between Team Liquid and OG, who had respectively won the International's 2017 and 2018 events. There, OG defeated Team Liquid 3–1 in the best-of-five series to become the first-ever repeat champion of an International.

Dota is a series of strategy video games. The series began in 2003 with the release of Defense of the Ancients (DotA), a fan-developed multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) mod for the video game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion, The Frozen Throne. The original mod features gameplay centered around two teams of up to five players who assume control of individual characters called "heroes", which must coordinate to destroy the enemy's central base structure called an "Ancient", to win the game. Ownership and development of DotA were passed on multiple times since its initial release until Valve hired the mod's lead designer IceFrog and after a legal dispute with Blizzard Entertainment, the developer of Warcraft III, brokered a deal that allowed for Valve to inherit the trademark to the Dota name.

<i>Marvel Super War</i> 2019 video game

Marvel Super War was a 2019 multiplayer online battle arena game developed and published by NetEase Games for Android and iOS. It was first released on December 19, 2019, until its servers were shut down on June 18, 2024.

References

  1. ↑ Clarke-Willson, Stephen (August 18, 1998). "The Origin of Realtime Strategy Games on the PC". The Rise and Fall of Virgin Interactive. Above the Garage Productions. Archived from the original on November 22, 2011. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Herzog Zwei (Genesis)" . Retrieved October 18, 2017.
  3. ↑ "The Making of... Dune II". Edge . Next-Gen.biz. December 9, 2008. Archived from the original on December 8, 2012. Retrieved July 27, 2011. Herzog Zwei was a lot of fun, but I have to say the other inspiration for Dune II was the Mac software interface. The whole design/interface dynamics of mouse clicking and selecting desktop items got me thinking, 'Why not allow the same inside the game environment? Why not a context-sensitive playfield? To hell with all these hot keys, to hell with keyboard as the primary means of manipulating the game!
  4. ↑ Lockley, Greg (June 3, 2014). "MOBA: The story so far". MCV .
  5. ↑ Groen, Andrew (March 7, 2012). "Ask GR Anything: What's a MOBA?". GamesRadar .
  6. ↑ Lopuszanski, Stefan (July 2019). "It's Mods All The Way Down". doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.25818.08644.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. ↑ McCarthy, Caty (October 19, 2017). "The Rise and Fall of Visceral Games". USgamer. Gamer Network . Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  8. ↑ "The Emergence of the Dota Genre". NeutralCreeps. Retrieved October 29, 2010.
  9. ↑ "Heroes Of Newerth Goes Free-To-Play". GameInformer. Archived from the original on January 3, 2013. Retrieved July 29, 2011.
  10. ↑ "New Free to Play on Steam - Rise of Immortals". Valve. 2011. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
  11. ↑ Usher, William (May 30, 2012). "Guardians Of Middle-Earth Coming This Fall To Xbox 360, PS3". Cinema Blend. Archived from the original on May 31, 2012.
  12. ↑ "Guardians of Middle-Earth". Sony Entertainment Network. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Guardians of Middle-earth on Steam". store.steampowered.com. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
  14. ↑ "Wrath of Heroes news: A Heartbroken Farewell". Electronic Arts. Archived from the original on March 2, 2013. Retrieved March 6, 2013.
  15. ↑ "Dota 2 for Linux". dev.dota2.com. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  16. ↑ "Spoils of War - FAQ". Dota2.com. Valve. Retrieved June 12, 2012.
  17. ↑ "Cartoon Network | Free Online Games, Downloads, Competitions & Videos for Kids". Cartoon Network. Archived from the original on June 25, 2014. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  18. ↑ "Free Games - Download & Play Free PC Games | Origin Games". dawngate.com. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Prime World: Important News". store.steampowered.com. February 18, 2021. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  20. ↑ "Patch Notes Version 2.2.14.1513". November 22, 2013. Archived from the original on December 15, 2011. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  21. ↑ "Steam Community :: Group Announcements :: Infinite Crisis". steamcommunity.com. June 2, 2015. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  22. ↑ "Paragon to Close on April 26". Paragon. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
  23. ↑ Acebedo, Bayani Miguel (December 19, 2018). "Star Wars: Force Arena is Shutting Down". Epicstream. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
  24. ↑ "Arena of Valor for Nintendo Switch".
  25. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (January 31, 2018). "Gigantic gets final update, shutting down in July". Polygon. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  26. ↑ 『マーベル スーパーウォー』が6月18日にサービス終了へ。マーベルのスーパーヒーローを操り5vs5のチーム戦が楽しめるMOBAゲーム [Marvel Super War will end service on June 18. A MOBA game in which you control Marvel's superheroes and enjoy 5 vs 5 team battles]. Dengeki Online (in Japanese). May 9, 2024. Archived from the original on August 20, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  27. ↑ Good, Owen S. (January 28, 2021). "Ninja Theory shuts down development on Bleeding Edge". Polygon. Retrieved January 19, 2022.

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