In the world of games, everything comes to China late. So it is with Blizzard’s upcoming MOBA title Heroes of the Storm, which has finally begun its beta phase in China.
Generally speaking, a new game entering beta in China wouldn’t be of interest to those outside of the gaming world. China’s gaming market is massive, and new games launch every day. Heroes of the Storm is different, though. This is a game that everyone should be keeping an eye on. Here’s why:
Blizzard games have always done well in China. In a country where many Western game developers have struggled to find their footing, Blizzard has been thriving for over a decade. Its Warcraft and Starcraft RTS games dominated the PC multiplayer games scene for years, and both are still incredibly popular for their age. And Blizzard’s MMORPG World of Warcraft has been and continues to be absolutely beloved by Chinese gamers. Nearly a decade after the game’s China launch, it still has dozens of active servers and Chinese gamers have created more than 140 million characters to play in the game. More recently, Blizzard’s new card battle game Hearthstone has also been met with open arms by China’s gamers.
Heroes of the Storm gameplay
But Heroes of the Storm represents Blizzard’s first official entry into the MOBA genre, a genre which ironically enough was first born in fan-made mods created for Blizzard’s Starcraft and Warcraft games. MOBA games are extraordinarily popular in China, and given the country’s love for Blizzard, Heroes of the Storm at first glance looks like a sure thing. If the game is a hit, it has the potential to produce another WoW-like windfall of cash for Blizzard and its China partner Netease. And like WoW, the game will be frequently updated, meaning that it could have very long-term staying power.
What’s interesting, though, is that this time Blizzard has some stiff competition. When the Warcraft and Starcraft RTS series were at their pinnacle, there were really no similar games available in China that offered the same level of quality. When World of Warcraft was released in China, there weren’t any other MMOs that could really offer a similar experience. With MOBA games, though, it’s a different story.
Heroes of the Storm is entering a market that is already saturated, and that features some clear favorites. Dota 2, the third-party successor to one of the mods that invented the MOBA genre to begin with, has an established fanbase already. So does Chinese-developed MOBA game Meng San Guo. But the biggest challenge to Heroes of the Storm will be League of Legends.
League of Legends, the undisputed king of China’s MOBA genre.
League is undeniably China’s most popular video game – it’s the most popular game in the world right now, actually – and it has held down the top spot for well over a year now. Its has tens of millions of players. Its popularity and growth is bolstered by its competitive scene: millions and millions of Chinese gamers tune in to watch professional League of Legends teams compete in the country’s domestic league and in international tournaments.
The big question for Heroes of the Storm, then, is whether it can either supplant or co-exist with League of Legends in the Chinese market. Successfully achieving either is likely to be a challenge, as League‘s American developer Riot Games is owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent, which will likely fight hard to retain its spot at the top of China’s PC gaming charts.
Heroes of the Storm has the developer pedigree to take China by – heh – storm. But establishing this game as a success in China will be Blizzard’s biggest challenge yet. If it succeeds, the ramifications for China’s gaming market would be significant, likely knocking Tencent down a peg and bringing Netease back to the forefront of China’s games publishers, as well as disrupting the country’s eSports scene. If it fails, it will be the first time in recent memory that a Blizzard game hasn’t held a huge piece of the PC gaming market for its genre, and likely an expensive loss for Netease.
Either way, followers of China’s PC gaming market are in for an interesting ride.
This post Beta begins for Heroes of the Storm in China, with big implications for China’s game market appeared first on Tech in Asia.
Beta begins for Heroes of the Storm in China, with big implications for China’s game market
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