List of multiplayer online battle arena games

This is a list of multiplayer online battle arena games, sorted chronologically. Information regarding date of release, developer, platform, setting and notability is provided when available.

List

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Year	Game	Developer	Platform	Free-to-play	Still playable	Notes
1989	Herzog Zwei	Technosoft	Sega Genesis	No	No	Herzog Zwei has been cited as an inspiration to the developers of Warcraft, StarCraft, Dune II, and Command & Conquer^[1]^[2]^[3] and is also considered a precursor to the MOBA genre.^[4]^[5]
1997	Command and Conquer : Sole Survivor	Westwood Studios	Windows	No	No	Arguably the 1st Battle Royal and MOBA Game : Up to 50 players played a single unit (Tanks, Vehicles, Infantry and Dinosaurs) in multiplayer Arena mode. Game featured competitive ladder rankings and modes like Capture the Flag and Domination. There is an effort to revive the game 26 years after its release. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGjQv43hvGY
2002	Future Cop: LAPD	EA Redwood Shores	PlayStation, Windows, Mac OS	No	No	Future Cop: LAPD is well known for inspiring MOBA games like DotA and League of Legends.^[6]^[7]
2002	Aeon of Strife	Aeon64, Gunner_4_ever	Windows	Yes	Discontinued	Custom map that requires installation of StarCraft. Aeon of Strife is the first MOBA game that features Minion Waves. Previous MOBA games lack Minion Waves.
2003	Defense of the Ancients	Eul, Guinsoo, IceFrog	Windows, Mac	See Notes	Yes	Custom map that requires installation of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos or Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. Defense of the Ancients is the first MOBA game that includes all 4 essential mechanics of MOBA which are: Experience Levels, Special Abilities, Purchasable Items and Minion Waves. Previous MOBA games lack one or more of these essential MOBA mechanics.
2008	Minions	Casual Collective	Browser	Yes	Yes
2009	Demigod	Gas Powered Games	Windows	No	Yes	First commercial game inspired by DotA.^[8]
2009	League of Legends	Riot Games	Windows, Mac	Yes	Yes
2010	Avalon Heroes	WeMade Entertainment	Windows	Yes	Discontinued	Officially shut down on February 8, 2013.
2010	Land of Chaos Online	Danal Entertainment	Windows	Yes	Discontinued	MOBA with third person perspective.^[9]^[10] Released on August 26, 2010.^[11]
2010	Heroes of Newerth	S2 Games, Frostburn Studios	Windows, Mac, Linux	Yes	Discontinued	Became free to play in July 2011. Servers shut down June 19, 2022.^[12] Garena bought the rights of the game from S2 in May 2015 and founded Frostburn Studios to maintain it.
2010	Monday Night Combat	Uber Entertainment	Windows, Xbox 360	No	Yes
2010	Realm of the Titans	Ningbo Shengguang Tianyi	Windows	Yes	Discontinued	Discontinued in all regions except China.
2011	Bloodline Champions	Stunlock Studios	Windows	Yes	Yes
2011	Rise of Immortals: Battle for Graxia	Petroglyph Games	Windows	Yes	Discontinued	Officially shut down since June 2013.^[13]
2012	Awesomenauts	Ronimo Games	Windows, Mac, Linux, Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, Xbox One	Yes	Yes	2D sidescrolling MOBA game.
2012	Guardians of Middle-earth	Monolith Productions	Xbox 360, PS3, Windows	No	Yes	Game based around The Lord of the Rings film series.^[14] No longer available on PlayStation Store and Steam.^[15]^[16]
2012	Super Monday Night Combat	Uber Entertainment	Windows	Yes	Discontinued
2012	Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes	Mythic Entertainment	Windows	Yes	Discontinued	Officially shut down on March 29, 2013.^[17]
2013	Dota 2	Valve	Windows, Mac, Linux^[18]	Yes	Yes	Sequel to Defense of the Ancients.^[19]
2013	Panzar	Panzar Studio	Windows	Yes	Yes
2014	Adventure Time: Battle Party	Cartoon Network	Browser	Yes	Discontinued	MOBA based on popular TV series, Adventure Time.^[20]
2014	Dawngate	Waystone Games	Windows	Yes	Discontinued	Officially shut down since March 2015.^[21]
2014	Fates Forever	Hammer and Chisel	iOS	Yes	Discontinued	Officially shut down since October 2015.
2014	Prime World	Nival	Windows	Yes	Discontinued	Shut down on March 31, 2021.^[22]
2014	Vainglory	Super Evil Megacorp	iOS, Android, Windows	Yes	Yes	Announced in November 2014
2014	Smite	Hi-Rez Studios	Windows, Xbox One, PS4	Yes	Yes	MOBA based around different cultures spiritual entities and in over-the-shoulder Third Person perspective.^[23]
2015	Heroes of the Storm	Blizzard Entertainment	Windows, Mac	Yes	Yes	The game brings various Blizzard characters together as playable heroes, as well as different battlegrounds based on Warcraft, Diablo, StarCraft, and Overwatch universes.
2015	Infinite Crisis	Turbine, Inc.	Windows	Yes	Discontinued	Officially shut down as of August 14, 2015.^[24]
2015	Sins of a Dark Age	Ironclad Games	Windows	Yes	Discontinued
2015	Strife	S2 Games	Windows, Mac, Linux	Yes	Discontinued	Released May 22, 2015. Servers became inaccessible in September 2018.
2015	Arena of Fate	Crytek Black Sea	Windows	Yes	Discontinued	Last known state was Closed Beta in 2016. The developers were purchased by SEGA in 2017.
2015	Wangzhe Rongyao	Timi Studio Group	iOS, Android	Yes	Yes	Released November 26, 2015. Released internationally in 2017 as Arena of Valor.
2016	Paragon	Epic Games	Windows, PlayStation 4	Yes	Discontinued	MOBA in third person perspective. Servers shut down on April 26, 2018.^[25]
2016	Warhammer 40,000: Dark Nexus Arena	Whitebox Interactive	Windows	Yes	Discontinued	Officially shut down on March 31, 2016.
2016	Mobile Legends: Bang Bang	Moonton	iOS, Android	Yes	Yes	Released July 14, 2016.
2017	Star Wars: Force Arena	Netmarble	iOS, Android	Yes	Discontinued	Released January 12, 2017. In-app purchases disabled as of December 19, 2018. No longer accepting new players as of January 17, 2019, and servers were permanently shut down on March 18, 2019.^[26]
2017	Arena of Valor	Timi Studio Group	iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch^[27]	Yes	Yes	Released August 10, 2017.
2017	Battlerite	Stunlock Studios	Windows	Yes	Yes	Released November 8, 2017.
2017	Gigantic	Motiga	Windows, Xbox One	Yes	Discontinued	The game focuses on team-based action combat in a third-person perspective with heroes battling alongside a massive guardian. Officially shut down on July 31, 2018.^[28]
2017	Master X Master	NCSOFT	Windows	Yes	Discontinued	Officially shut down January 31, 2018.
2018	AirMech	Carbon Games	Windows, Google Chrome	Yes	Yes	Inspired by Herzog Zwei.
2019	Marvel Super War	NetEase	iOS, Android	Yes	Yes
2020	Bleeding Edge	Ninja Theory	Windows, Xbox One	No	Yes	Team brawler video game. Ninja Theory announced that there would no longer be any content updates, but the game is still playable on Xbox and PC.^[29]
2020	Eternal Return	Nimble Neuron	Windows	Yes	Yes	MOBA with battle royale mechanics.
2020	League of Legends: Wild Rift	Riot Games	iOS, Android, consoles	Yes	Yes	Modified version of League of Legends for mobile and consoles.
2021	Pokémon Unite	Timi Studio Group	iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch	Yes	Yes	Pokémon themed MOBA developed in partnership with Tencent Games

References

1. Clarke-Willson, Stephen (August 18, 1998). . The Rise and Fall of Virgin Interactive. Above the Garage Productions. Archived from the original on November 22, 2011. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
2. "Herzog Zwei (Genesis)". Retrieved October 18, 2017.
3. "The Making of... Dune II". Edge. Next-Gen.biz. December 9, 2008. Archived from the original on December 8, 2012. Retrieved July 27, 2011. Herzog Zwei was a lot of fun, but I have to say the other inspiration for Dune II was the Mac software interface. The whole design/interface dynamics of mouse clicking and selecting desktop items got me thinking, 'Why not allow the same inside the game environment? Why not a context-sensitive playfield? To hell with all these hot keys, to hell with keyboard as the primary means of manipulating the game!
4. Lockley, Greg (June 3, 2014). "MOBA: The story so far". MCV.
5. Groen, Andrew (March 7, 2012). "Ask GR Anything: What's a MOBA?". GamesRadar.
6. Lopuszanski, Stefan (July 2019). "It's Mods All The Way Down". doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.25818.08644. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
7. McCarthy, Caty (October 19, 2017). "The Rise and Fall of Visceral Games". USgamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
8. "The Emergence of the Dota Genre". NeutralCreeps. Retrieved October 29, 2010.
9. "Land of Chaos Online goes loco for spell info". Engadget. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
10. "Land of Chaos: An Awesome Genre Bending MMO". The Escapist. April 21, 2010. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
11. I. G. N. Staff (August 3, 2010). "Burda:ic Announces the Start of the LOCO – Land of Chaos Online Open Beta". IGN. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
12. "Heroes Of Newerth Goes Free-To-Play". GameInformer. Retrieved July 29, 2011.
13. "New Free to Play on Steam - Rise of Immortals". Valve. 2011. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
14. Usher, William (May 30, 2012). "Guardians Of Middle-Earth Coming This Fall To Xbox 360, PS3". Cinema Blend.
15. "Guardians of Middle-Earth". Sony Entertainment Network. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
16. "Guardians of Middle-earth on Steam". store.steampowered.com. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
17. . Electronic Arts. Archived from the original on March 2, 2013. Retrieved March 6, 2013.
18. "Dota 2 for Linux". dev.dota2.com. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
19. "Spoils of War - FAQ". Dota2.com. Valve. Retrieved June 12, 2012.
20. "Cartoon Network | Free Online Games, Downloads, Competitions & Videos for Kids". cartoonnetwork.com. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
21. "Free Games - Download & Play Free PC Games | Origin Games". dawngate.com. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
22. "Prime World: Important News". store.steampowered.com. February 18, 2021. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
23. "Patch Notes Version 2.2.14.1513". November 22, 2013. Archived from the original on December 15, 2011. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
24. "Steam Community :: Group Announcements :: Infinite Crisis". steamcommunity.com. June 2, 2015. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
25. "Paragon to Close on April 26". Paragon. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
26. Acebedo, Bayani Miguel (December 19, 2018). "Star Wars: Force Arena is Shutting Down". Epicstream. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
27. "Arena of Valor for Nintendo Switch".
28. McWhertor, Michael (January 31, 2018). "Gigantic gets final update, shutting down in July". Polygon. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
29. Good, Owen S. (January 28, 2021). "Ninja Theory shuts down development on Bleeding Edge". Polygon. Retrieved January 19, 2022.