So I was having a bit of a debate the other night with a friend over if some older games would've survived in the modern day, and it got me thinking - with the recent news of League having over 100 million players per month now, I wonder if League would be as popular as it is, or would it even had survived if it had to face entrenched competition when it was coming out.
I know it seems like a long time ago, but thinking back; when League of Legends first launched, it's only competition was an aging mod for an almost ancient game. DotA 2 was barely a concept at that point, and things like SMITE, Heroes of the Storm, Dawngate etc. wouldn't come about for nearly a decade.
It launched into a nearly empty vacuum and quickly became a behemoth - it actually had an easier start than even other juggernauts like WoW, Halo and Starcraft.
Since then, basically every other MOBA except DotA 2 and SMITE has fallen in the face of League's damn-near black hole of popularity; and even then SMITE only because it fills the niche of 3rd Person MOBA and DotA 2 because it is widely seen as the harder, more skilled version of League (DotA 2 is to League as CS is to CoD is the common comparison).
But let's reverse the tables - League comes out later, and now has to compete against DotA 2, SMITE and the others.
Does the old League and the old Riot survive? Does the new League and the new Riot survive? Or do they just become a causality, as so many have to League's current success?
I know it seems like a long time ago, but thinking back; when League of Legends first launched, it's only competition was an aging mod for an almost ancient game. DotA 2 was barely a concept at that point, and things like SMITE, Heroes of the Storm, Dawngate etc. wouldn't come about for nearly a decade.
It launched into a nearly empty vacuum and quickly became a behemoth - it actually had an easier start than even other juggernauts like WoW, Halo and Starcraft.
Since then, basically every other MOBA except DotA 2 and SMITE has fallen in the face of League's damn-near black hole of popularity; and even then SMITE only because it fills the niche of 3rd Person MOBA and DotA 2 because it is widely seen as the harder, more skilled version of League (DotA 2 is to League as CS is to CoD is the common comparison).
But let's reverse the tables - League comes out later, and now has to compete against DotA 2, SMITE and the others.
Does the old League and the old Riot survive? Does the new League and the new Riot survive? Or do they just become a causality, as so many have to League's current success?
