Has Blizzard entered such a saturated market before?

[LonestarHero]

In the past Blizzard has redefined the MMORPG, RTS and dungeon crawler genres.

With Hearthstone, Blizzard put a faster pace on the clunky interfaces of the MTG franchise. The competition in internet collectable card games was weak.

With this MOBA, Blizzard is competing in a market with the behemoth of League of Legends. Let's also not forget DOTA2 and HON. I don't recall Blizzard being such a late comer to a market before. I think that is rather funny considering the whole MOBA craze started out as a Warcraft 3 custom map.

[wariofan1]

Yeah, they made a kind-of suckish Superman beat 'em up for the SNES.

Just kidding with that of course (they did make it though.)

Otherwise: No, I don't think so at least. However, they are doing things differently, just like they did with Hearthstone, they usually make atypical versions of already existing genres. In a market filled with games that are trying to be DOTA, and one of them literally is DOTA, I'm looking forward to Blizzard's spin on it. Of course they won't prove to be competition to the monster that is League of Legends, but it'll probably at least surpass HoN I imagine. The simplicity and adaptability of their games have always been what made them successful, and this looks to follow that fairly nicely.

[Valeron]

It's probably an uphill battle for them. But they have a huge card in their favor, the warcraft IP.

[Deleted]

While a lot of people play the MOBA genre and games like LoL and Dota, among others(?), are popular, that does not mean the MOBA genre can't be developed further.

I'm sure Blizzard can do something different (they are already doing that. See: map modes) with the MOBA genre.

[Kelimbror]

Blizzard are expanding their brand, not 'entering a saturated market'. You can't look at any one of their products as merely a competitor in its genre...especially since they tend to redefine the genre once they get in it. Blizzard is doing what Apple does for electronics and what Disney does with multimedia entertainment. Their brand was strong, but narrow. With the addition of Hearthstone and Heroes they are both strong and wide. They will profit massively from cross promotion within their brand, building a base of loyal customers that spend more money as their products increase.

I already knew this was coming when the battle.net client was announced, but seeing the rapid progress on their latest games, an expansion for D3 and WoW, and who knows what else up their sleeve it's practically laid out for the next decade. They are no longer a company making games. They are an extensively developed brand. And you will give them all your money.

[LonestarHero]

They are an extensively developed brand. And you will give them all your money.

After not playing WoW for two years I bought MoP on the cheap for $10 at Thanksgiving, re-subbed for two months and quit.

During this time I got into the closed beta of Hearthstone and spent $40 on packs. I also got back into Diablo 3 for about a weak and bought $5 worth of gold from the RMAH. I'm more than likely gonna play the expansion for a week or two and get interested in it again in a year.

They got money out of me on three fronts alright! If only they could do a better job of monetizing SC2.

[Tziva]

Having two or three big competitors in a genre doesn't make the market saturated, especially with something like video games where most people play more than one. But I mean seriously, if all it takes is a handful of popular games to make a genre full up, no one would ever release a successful video game again.

That said, I expect Heroes will be a lot more accessible than the other games. It might not generate the same hardcore crowd as Dota2 and probably won't get as many active players are LoL, but I'll bet it doesn't want for people playing at all.

[keese]

Having two or three big competitors in a genre doesn't make the market saturated, especially with something like video games where most people play more than one. But I mean seriously, if all it takes is a handful of popular games to make a genre full up, no one would ever release a successful video game again.

That said, I expect Heroes will be a lot more accessible than the other games. It might not generate the same hardcore crowd as Dota2 and probably won't get as many active players are LoL, but I'll bet it doesn't want for people playing at all.

Two STUPIDLY big and popular and extremely well established competitors. I don't doubt that it will get a lot of players with the Blizzard name attached to it, but it won't beat LoL and whether it keeps the players it does get or not will be up to the gameplay.

[Tziva]

Two STUPIDLY big and popular and extremely well established competitors. I don't doubt that it will get a lot of players with the Blizzard name attached to it, but it won't beat LoL and whether it keeps the players it does get or not will be up to the gameplay.

While I don't disagree with any of this, it's kinda missing the point

For one, the OP was about genre saturation, a concept which is silly when talking about video games. Almost every gaming genre has many big, successful compitors in them, but that doesn't mean it's a bad idea to make more games in that genre, or that future games can never be successful. This is in part because all the games have their own unique takes or angles or stories or gameplay changes, but most of all because video games are not mutually exclusive. It's entirely possible, perhaps even likely, that players will have LoL and Dota2 and Heroes installed. It's not one or the other. I doubt there are many people out there who only ever play just one video game.

Realistically, I don't think it will surpass LoL in players for a number of reasons, but I don't think that means anything negative for the game. It doesn't need to beat LoL to be successful. If it even got half the players that League has had, it will still be a hugely successful game.

[Guyviroth]

Hearthstone had to try and compete with Magic: The Gathering Online and some other online TCGs

I think Hearthstone's turned out pretty damn well.

[Sylf]

Hearthstone had to try and compete with Magic: The Gathering Online and some other online TCGs

I think Hearthstone's turned out pretty damn well.

There's a big difference between a game with about 300.000 registered accounts (Mtg) and the most played computer game in the world (Lol) tho.

[Frozen Death Knight]

The gaming industry is big enough for giants like LoL and Dota 2, so HotS will fit the market just fine.

As for HotS becoming more popular than League of Legends? It could happen (not very likely, though), but as of how it looks today, heck no. However, Blizzard are pretty darn excellent at marketing their games, so it will definitely have an audience.

[Deleted]

People are getting bored of LoL, if HotS ends up being an e-sport I think it might end up becoming more popular. We'll just have to wait and see.

[Charge me Doctor]

Well, they didn't just made a "dota clone", they removed kills, last hits and focused on teamplay instead of farming. I think this game will be less toxic and frustrating to lose, so, they will be fine

[Guyviroth]

There's a big difference between a game with about 300.000 registered accounts (Mtg) and the most played computer game in the world (Lol) tho.

That would be the case if it were just about a select pool of gamers that had to choose between LoL and HotS. But what Hearthstone did was take people who weren't into the TCG genre and raked them in. I doubt HotS will take away any players from LoL (And I really hope they don't because they're even worse than the WoW players), but I do expect them to bring in some fresh faces who haven't touched a MOBA before.

[amishjello]

HotS will stand out for very many people because they can play all the heros and villans from some of their favorites IP's. I know I will probably play Diablo a shit ton, not for his kit, but because I have always been a fan of Diablo. That in its self attracts me a lot.

[Krekko]

While a lot of people play the MOBA genre and games like LoL and Dota, among others(?), are popular, that does not mean the MOBA genre can't be developed further.

I'm sure Blizzard can do something different (they are already doing that. See: map modes) with the MOBA genre.

I really find the MMORPG market to be much more "saturated' than the MOBA market. There's only so far that you can go with an MMO (at least in my opinion, before you start creating a new genre entirely), but with an MOBA while the core is still the same that's entirely fine for most people. It's the game modes, the business model and small things like that which make the difference.

What they need to do is find a successful business model and they should be fine. They are bringing together multiple universes which we all know and love into this one... well arena, and they are giving you a fun new way to interact with them. They are also filling a nice gap between their already existing Genres. Hopefully the community ends up less toxic than LoL and such, because that game was fun as hell until you started getting screamed at by Smurfs.

[Tya]

LoL, DotA2 etc don't interest me. HotS does. I doubt I'm alone.

That, and I'd play it just for the nostalgia factor. I miss the WC3 experience and this brings a little of that back. With that in mind, I also really hope they add some co-operative content.

[Vereesa]

LoL, DotA2 etc don't interest me. HotS does. I doubt I'm alone.

You're certainly not.

OT: While I find it unlikely HotS would crush LoL off the bat, I think Blizzard has the capacity to get together a big audience for it.

[May90]

I honestly think that Blizzard will eliminate all other MOBA games, including LoL. They have typically 1-2 maps with the same goal, so the gameplay is very repetitive, while HotS will have many different maps and modes, really interesting heroes with lore behind them (LoL heroes descriptions are lmao), Map Editor which will probably lead to a large set of popular custom maps, like in Warcraft 3 and Starcraft 2, mechanics that is much less frustrating than in other MOBAs (no complex item system, no last hit bonus and such) and leads to strategy dominating over tactics which is always fun in the long run. I hated DotA and LoL, but this game seems very appealing to me, and, I guess, MANY people who have never played or liked MOBA games before will still really like this game, and those from LoL and the like will come to the game to seek more diversity than stupid 1 map.

You might think whatever you want, but all Blizzard games have become hits with unimaginable success (hell, Hearthstone is still in beta, but it already is the most popular (maybe the 2nd after MtG) and accessible CCG game), and this game, that caters for players from every Blizzard game, from every MOBA game and from any competitive game in general, can become the greatest video game success in history.