'Dota 2' pulling $18m a month, 'LoL' many times more
A new report from SuperData Research has free Mac and PC multiplayer online battle arena game "Dota 2" at $18m per month in terms of revenue, with "League of Legends" making bank at up to six times that rate.
SuperData's CEO Joost van Drooen elaborated on the "Dota 2" figure from his February 2015 US Digital Games Market Report with comparative numbers for "League of Legends."
Like "Dota 2," "LoL" is based on the grassroots success of fan-made modification "DotA," built on top of another game, "Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne."
Both allow anyone and everyone to play the team-based action game, supporting its development through optional payments focused on cosmetic character upgrades.
"League of Legends" goes one step further and lets players buy permanent access to each character from a bulging roster, avatars who are otherwise free on a weekly rotation.
But "LoL" released a good few years earlier -- 2009 compared to 2011 -- pioneering the free mod's transformation into a template for serious earnings.
And "LoL," Van Drooen said in a quote supplied to VentureBeat, "takes about five days to earn that same amount of money [as 'Dota 2' makes in a month.]"
Their sort of million-dollar success has prompted other big publishing houses to get involved. It's a dangerous game, though, as there might not be all that much room at the top.
S2 Games' current project, for example, is "Strife," which aims to make a friendlier experience of the sometimes hostile MOBA environment.
"Smite," on the other hand, is from Hi-Rez Studios, which has Chinese distribution with "League of Legends" majority owner Tencent.
Warner subsiduary Turbine is developing "Infinite Crisis," populating it with heroes and villains from the world of DC Comics. And "Solstice Arena" is Zynga's variation on the theme for iOS.
But Electronic Arts, the giant publisher behind the "FIFA," "Madden NFL," "Dragon Age" and "The Sims" franchises, withdrew from the MOBA scene 18 months after announcing its own contribution, "Dawngate."
Still, Van Drooen told [a]listdaily in February 2015 that Blizzard's "Heroes of the Storm" -- using characters from its "Warcraft" and "Diablo" series -- would become the "second- or third-highest grossing game of its kind" when it eventually leaves beta.
That was based on some 9 million players involved in the beta test, which for SuperData indicated potential revenues between $5m and $10m per month from the get go.
