#Most popular moba games professional#

Defensive structures, which are usually automatic 'towers', are in place to prevent this. Destroying other structures within the opposing team's base may confer other benefits. The first team to destroy the opponents' main structure wins the match, though some games have the option of different victory conditions. Usually, both teams have main structures, located at the opposite corners of the battlefield. Players work together as a team to achieve the ultimate victory condition, which is to destroy their enemy's base whilst protecting their own. Two light-colored areas are the teams' bases which encompass the blue and red corners, the structures upon which destruction results in victory.Įach match starts with two opposing teams typically composed of five players. Blue and red dots are the 'towers', the main line of defense for both teams. Yellow lines are the 'lanes' where the action is focused. A strong fanbase has opened up the opportunity for sponsorship and advertising, eventually leading the genre to become a global cultural phenomenon.Ī generic map layout popular in MOBA games.

#Most popular moba games professional#

Major esports professional tournaments are held in venues that can hold tens of thousands of spectators and are streamed online. In 2018, prize pools reached over US$60 million, 40% of the year's total esports prize pools. īy the early 2010s, the genre had become a big part of the esports category. It was followed by two spiritual successors, League of Legends (2009) and Heroes of Newerth (2010), as well by a standalone sequel, Dota 2 (2013), and numerous other games in the genre, such as Heroes of the Storm (2015). DotA was one of the first major titles of its genre and the first MOBA for which sponsored tournaments were held. Defense of the Ancients ( DotA) was created in 2003 by the Warcraft III modding community for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion, The Frozen Throne, with a map based on AoS.

The first widely accepted game in the genre was Aeon of Strife ( AoS), a fan-made custom map for StarCraft in which four players each control a single powerful unit and, aided by weak computer-controlled units, compete against a stronger computer. The genre is seen as a fusion of real-time strategy, role-playing and action games. Moreover, there are examples of MOBA games that are not considered real-time strategy games, such as Smite (2014), and Paragon.

This type of multiplayer online video games originated as a subgenre of real-time strategy, though MOBA players usually do not construct buildings or units. Players are assisted by computer-controlled units that periodically spawn in groups and march forward along set paths toward their enemy's base, which is heavily guarded by defensive structures. In some MOBA games, the objective can be defeating every player on the enemy team. The typical ultimate objective is for each team to destroy their opponents' main structure, located at the opposite corner of the battlefield. Each player controls a single character with a set of distinctive abilities that improve over the course of a game and which contribute to the team's overall strategy. Multiplayer online battle arena ( MOBA) is a subgenre of strategy video games in which two teams of players compete against each other on a predefined battlefield.