MOBA > RPG & Console WHY?

[Deleted]

5 to 10 years ago teens were either playing

RPGs (online/offline)

OR

they were playing on a console (Fifa etc.)

but today the majority is playing MOBAs and I really don't understand: WHY?

the RPG gamers, like me, were those who liked to explore huge new fantasy worlds while the console gamers liked to do some lan multiplayer in wrestling or racing games etc. with rl friends. both is fine and understandable to me. I also get why some would want to play a MOBA (like Warcraft 3) over an RPG or a console game. but WHY is every teen playing MOBAs nowadays? is it the cool kids in school who play them and that's why other people follow? is it because they are free to play (mostly)?

to me MOBAs simply don't feel as epic as an RPG (at all). the only epic e-memories I have come from RPG games (WoW in my case).
now, I understand that this is all just my opinion but I would really like to know WHY teens are so into MOBAs nowadays. if anyone has a theory please share!

[Prifter]

It's free, anybody can play, you hop in hop out, very little time investment needed for casual play. Also it's fun when you play with friends, even if they are unexperienced.

[Tech614]

What is this "majority" you speak of?

Are we counting all the accounts that are made play a MOBA once and never again? Or how about the ones that might play 1 game a month when they're really bored?

Not that MOBAs aren't really popular, they are but calling it the majority of teen gaming is laughable. Hell I'm pretty sure in the US at least a crap load of teens have no idea what a MOBA even is and mostly play CoD, Madden and NBA2k.

[Arewn]

Warcraft 3 was an RTS, not a moba.
That said, if you are going to classify them together, its important to point out that "moba" (RTS) games were popular back then too. Warcraft 3, Age of __, Red Alert, Anno, Civilization, Might and Magic, were all popular strategy games around that time.

[Poppincaps]

1. Why do you care?

2. MOBAs also have potential for epic clutch moments. Having my team wiped out in Heroes of the Storm and then going in as Greymane and getting a pentakill and stealing the boss is one of the more recent highlights of my gaming career.

3. They are team based. When I was a teen, my friends and I mainly played CoD together. Honestly we didn't really play together we were just in the same game. We didn't talk about the game we just bullshitted around all the time. It was more of an excuse for us to talk to each other. Now I play Heroes with my friends and we actively work together when we play. Nothing feels better than when you're almost certainly dead only for your friend to come in with a Divine Shield and turn it around.

4. They are infinitely replayable. CoD always eventually got boring once we memorized the maps and we sometimes didn't feel like paying for the map packs. Heroes on the other hand is constantly coming out with new heroes with vastly different playstyles. There's always a new hero for you to master.

5. They are free and in League's case, run on potatoes.

[Deleted]

Because the vast majority of the gamers are shit. There, I've said it. Companies like EA, Ubisoft and Konami keep going only because shit gamers buy their crap and don't complain, and even if they do complain, they keep buying their shit.

10 years ago the most sold games were Need for Speed, Fifa and Sims, games for super mega casual weekend gamers. Why bother making a Mass Effect when you can make some shit MOBA in 2 weeks for 30$ and then have the hamsters eat it all up and make millions of $? This is the video game market.

[Tech614]

Because the vast majority of the gamers are shit. There, I've said it. Companies like EA, Ubisoft and Konami keep going only because shit gamers buy their crap and don't complain, and even if they do complain, they keep buying their shit.

10 years ago the most sold games were Need for Speed, Fifa and Sims, games for super mega casual weekend gamers. Why bother making a Mass Effect when you can make some shit MOBA in 2 weeks for 30$ and then have the hamsters eat it all up and make millions of $? This is the video game market.

EA Ubisoft and Konami make MOBAs? LOL What?

[Edge-]

Why bother making a Mass Effect when you can make some shit MOBA in 2 weeks for 30$ and then have the hamsters eat it all up and make millions of $? This is the video game market.

Except that they've made 3 Mass Effects and are working on a fourth, and there are plenty of brand new IP's and sequels to popular franchises coming out regularly alongside all of the "me too" coat-tailing that the publishers do.

This isn't a binary issue, here.

EA Ubisoft and Konami make MOBAs? LOL What?

EA made one and canned it before it even made it to launch, forget the name off the top of my head. Ubisoft/Konami haven't jumped on that train yet, but we see/have seen games from Warner Brothers, Bandai Namco, and some other decent sized studios/publishers (Paradox, Deep Silver etc.)

Edit: Actually EA sorta was responsible for 1.5, there was that Warhammer MMO spinoff that Mythic worked on for a bit. Not a MOBA proper by any means, but seemed "inspired" by the success of MOBA's at the time.

[Deleted]

Geez, I'm talking in general.

[Tech614]

Geez, I'm talking in general.

You saw fit to make a topic about the popularity of the MOBO genre somehow relate to your off topic rant.

[Deleted]

You saw fit to make a topic about the popularity of the MOBO genre somehow relate to your off topic rant.

Oh I just came out of another session of Overwatch and I'm pissed like always after playing it.

[barackopala]

Look at console games in south america, all about FIFA's. I'm willing to bet there a fuckton more shooters on consoles than popular mobas.

[dope_danny]

1: free

2: everyone can be a dick and leave and find a new match

3: constant 'dings' and instant gratification, or an outlet if you do badly and have anger problems.

[Wondercrab]

The same reason any genre gets popular. It has some good games in it that get a lot of publicity (in the case of MOBAs they get a LOT of mainstream publicity compared to other games via televised eSports). Being a comparatively new and fresh genre also helps a lot. Oh, and free to play business models.

[Manabomb]

MOBAs are a psychological money pit. They are flashy video games that are easy to pick up but difficult to master that are in a constant state of flux when it comes to balancing. They are free, they are easy to market, they are easy to make and it taps in on the primitive competitive nature that matures whenever boys hit the magical age of 13.

And since being 13 at the age of 25 is an acceptable thing now, it's no wonder why MOBAs are so popular.

[Halicia]

Seems like a false dichotomy here, plenty of people are still buying RPG games.

Yeah, pulling numbers out of thin air here, but aren't the top 2-3~ software/game kickstarters all CRPGs ?

Seems like free MOBAs might be popular among young kids with little/no disposable income, but when it comes to actually paying cash in advance... RPGs > MOBAs.

[Edge-]

Seems like free MOBAs might be popular among young kids with little/no disposable income, but when it comes to actually paying cash in advance... RPGs > MOBAs.

Except that League of Legends generates over a billion dollars in revenue every single year. Except that Dota 2 brought in around $250M last year. Except that Heroes is apparently a strong performer for Blizzard. Except that Smite has been a huge financial success for High-Rez.

If nobody was spending money on MOBA's, companies wouldn't be jumping over each other to try to get in on a piece of that pie.

[Halicia]

If nobody was spending money on MOBA's, companies wouldn't be jumping over each other to try to get in on a piece of that pie.

Well, I was kinda comparing population of MOBAs vs pre-paying/purchasing.

I'm not saying MOBAs aren't making money, I'm just saying they have an easier time attracting an audience specifically looking for 'optional' payment, whereas (traditional) RPGs have an easier time attracting audiences where payment in advance is mandatory.

Even "kids" usually have *some* disposable income, or can convince parents to buy a gift now and then, but for the baseline game to be free allows them to get into it with no purchase required, making it much more attractive for younger groups of schoolkids/etc.

Your average RPG, however, tends to be targetted at (a bare minimum) 16+, who likely have some form of job, income, and ability to spend $20-60 on a game now and then. The "traditional" RPGs (kickstarters) specifically are/were focussed largely on people who had played their previous incarnations, so slanting more towards the 25-35+ demographic (I'm guessing wildly here)