Free-to-play games are huge. Multiplayer-online-battle-arena titles are everywhere. Sega and developer Creative Assembly want in on the action.
The Creative Assembly, which develops the Total War real-time strategy games, is now working on Total War: Arena. This new MOBA-style game pits players against one another as history’s greatest commanders in online combat.
The developer describes it as a mix of the standard RTS gameplay from previous Total War games and the MOBA genre exemplified by League of Legends and Dota 2. Naturally, it’ll cost nothing for players to get started.
Sega and Creative Assembly aren’t talking about release yet. The developer is still working on Total War: Rome II for PC, which is due out this year.
It will be fascinating to watch one developer introduce two games in the same franchise and see which one does better: The free-to-play game or the full retail release.