One of the most iconic yet underappreciated MOBAs in gaming history, Heroes of Newerth, has officially shut down its online servers and general accessibility as of today, more than 12 years after its release back in May 2010.
The developers at Frostburn Studios announced their plan of closing the game last year. While loyal fans were saddened to hear the news, it was almost inevitable for the company to take this huge step.
Back during Heroes of Newerth’s release, the game saw healthy competition from its competitors at the time. League of Legends was only in its beta testing phase and Dota 2 didn’t even exist at the time, just the Dota map available in Warcraft that started it all.
Soon enough, however, the game found itself struggling to keep its head above water, the waters in which Dota 2 and League of Legends also started residing. The two new MOBAs were more refined, with Valve and Riot also having better marketing strategies, pulling in larger crowds into the game’s player bases. The two rivals also started hosting large tournaments with huge prize pools, even stealing HoN’s player base eventually.
Heroes of Newerth was initially a paid game, where Frostburn Studios charged $30 for a copy. The developers quickly made changes after realizing their error, switching to a F2P game model to rival their competition, rake in new players, and keep existing ones hooked on the game.
While the game did stick around for longer than many other MOBA games that came and went, its popularity was still severely overshadowed by the giants ruling over the genre currently, leading to the pitiful end of a game that will definitely remain in a lot of players’ hearts.
