The "MOBA" genre is a tough arena to break into—old and new game makers alike want in on the budding five-on-five online-battle genre, but they have to contend with deeply entrenched juggernauts Dota 2 and League of Legends. So when Blizzard Entertainment—the developers responsible for their fair share of juggernauts, including World of Warcraft, Diablo, Starcraft, and Hearthstone—decided to make a MOBA move with this summer’s Heroes of the Storm, the result seemed like a real immovable object and unstoppable force situation.
Blizzard’s greatest strength, for the last 20 years, has been its ability to move into a genre and dominate it using two consistent strategies. Its games have consistently high production values, and its games are accessible in every way possible. The former is certainly present in Heroes of the Storm—which looks and plays great— but the latter is more important. For Blizzard, “accessible” means easier interfaces, lower required technical specifications, and a design philosophy aimed at ensuring the player constantly has something fun to do.
I’ve long been interested in the MOBA genre, thanks to its combination of strategy game-style controls and sports-like positions and improvisation, but my previous attempts to get into the genre had been cut short by unfriendly players and game mechanics. It’s hard to enjoy a competitive game where people are screaming at you for not immediately having the skill to keep up, or where the game itself offers very little encouragement and teaching. But Blizzard’s history of making their games accessible instantly piqued my interest—and now I’m fully invested in Heroes of the Storm.
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