Publishers are misinterpreting the demand for new MOBAs and MMOs

Infinite Crisis is just one of the more recent examples of why the deluge of new multiplayer online battle arena and massively multiplayer online games needs to stop. A lot of them keep failing, and the price of failure is steep — layoffs and studio shutdowns.

Developer Turbine announced that it’s shutting down the DC Comics-based MOBA (Infinite Crisis) in August, after just releasing Infinite Crisis on March 26. And this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Most new MMOs and MOBAs today fail to capture a sizable audience, and are undermined by a handful of juggernauts. Just last year, only 10 games had nearly 60 percent of the market share for MMOs and MOBAs (this includes League of Legends, World of Tanks, Counter-Strike Online, and Hearthstone). Well over 200 MMOs and MOBAs are out, in beta, and in development, games like Glory of Gods, Deepworld, ArcheAge, and RaiderZ.