League of Legends is easily the most popular MOBA in the world.
The game beat DOTA 2 and even the newly launched Heroes of the Storm. But, there’s a surprisingly new entrant in town.
Developed by Blizzard, Overwatch is the brand new MOBA which is unique in its own style. Instead of being strategic, the role playing title allows players to experience the action in third person shooter style similar to Unreal Tournament. But, every skill, power and item available in a multiplayer online battle arena can be found in it as well. It seems the developers have managed to hit the sweet spots and managed to convince a lot of gamers in Korean internet cafes.
Overwatch is now officially the most played game in public cafes in Korea and it has dethroned League of Legends. The latter continued to hold the top spot for more than four years now with every other game far from its player count. New data confirmed that Overwatch is now played by more than thirty percent of people in the region while League of Legend is slightly behind with 27.8 percent of the share.
Since August 2012, LOL is the most played game in the region and around the globe. It’s biggest competitor Dota 2 was the one that introduced the genre to gamers. Developed by Valve, Dota 2 still holds the highest prize pool in online tournaments and matches. In sheer number of players, LOL dominates its opponent with more than 60 million players every month. Dota 2 has approximately ten million players every month.
Blizzard has a large fan following in Korea. The company is known for their Starcraft and Starcraft II games which are insanely popular in the competitive gaming scene. It was so popular that even illegal match fixing was done by players so that those who bet would earn more money. The internet cafes are booming in the region and with a title like Overwatch, multiplayer titles would acquire more attention than never before.
It is also the first game that managed to bring players out of the congested MOBA community and into a new genre where the best of shooting as well as strategy is offered in the same spot. Blizzard confirmed that they have planned to roll out many more heroes in the near future combined with new maps, gameplay improvements and weapons to keep things exciting for months to come.