Those who think esports occupy a small, forgettable faction of the entertainment industry are unequivocally and undeniably wrong. Esports may seem small due to a lack of mainstream coverage, but the budding industry is a global phenomenon with a fanbase in the hundreds of millions. Still, esports continues to be difficult to wa

Dota2 wasn't far behind. The game was released from open beta in July 2013 and quickly climbed the Steam charts, surpassing longtime standbys like Team Fortress 2 and Counter-Strike (although CS:GO would later regain its title as most popular game on the digital platform). At the time of its release, Dota2 had over 520,000 concurrent players. By January of 2014, Dota2 had over 738,000 players, and by February of 2016, Dota2 had peaked at 1,291,328 concurrent play

Today, few companies are looking to create a new MOBA. Dota2 's player count has been on a slow, steady decline while League of Legends' has mostly plateaued. Riot Games still reports LoL ’s player count as an ever-growing number , one can only assume that’s due to greater international penetration as well as longtime players creating secondary or "smurf" accou

Pokemon GO is, as usual, a little more family-friendly with its Halloween 2019 event. Players can catch versions of the four starter pokemon in cute Halloween costumes , including Pikachu dressing up as Mimikyu. There are also lots of goodies for trainers, special Field Research assignments, and the chance to battle against Darkrai in a five-star r

One such mechanisms is creep pulling and managing the runes on the map to build a clear advantage overtime against your enemy. All these mechanics are hard to learn, but outwitting your enemy through these strategies is what makes DOTA2 so much more rewarding to p

Spellbinder: +120 ability power, +10% movement speed, Passive: Unique: Gains a charge each time an enemy or allied champion within 1800 range, including yourself, uses an ability, up to a maximum of 100 charges. Active: Unique: Grants 0 − 80 (based on charges) ability power and a decaying 0% − 50% (based on charges) bonus movement speed for 4 seconds (60 second cooldo

League might require a bit of grinding to unlock all the possible Champions and Runes needed, which can be frustrating. However, the good thing about the hero rotation which forces players to pick from a certain pool of heroes in the beginning is that you won't be overwhelmed right off the

The obvious answer is because they want a new experience. That’s why new games keep getting made and why pretty much every game has a limited lifespan. Once their player has had their fill, they move on to the next big th

Part of the problem with esports is that there are simply too many games. There are hundreds of titles with professional leagues that award prize money, host tournaments, and stream competitions online. Each of these games and leagues has their own fans and their own way of doing thi

Halloween is right around the corner, which means it's just about the time many games roll out a special spooky surprise. A number of the events have already begun, and more are on the way, so here's a handy round-up of all 2019's in-game Halloween events announced so

Apex Legends' Fight or Fright event began on October 15 and will run until November 5. Fight or Fright will bring players to a nighttime version of the Kings Canyon map, where regular matches will take a creepy turn: once a player dies, rather than going to the end-game screen, their character will be reanimated as an undead version of themselves. Then the undead players will go after the living ones, who will have to band together once only 10 survivors remain to reach an evac s

Blizzard would have much greater success in Overwatch , here. a first-person shooter version of the MOBA. Others wouldn’t be nearly as lucky. Paragon , Dawngate , Infinite Crisis , Arena of Fate , and Battleborn all came around the same time and all failed to live up to expectations. Many of them simply failed altogether with servers shutting down a few short years la

Final Fantasy 14 kicked off its All Saints' Wake just a couple of days ago on October 17. To access All Saints' Wake, players must be at least level 15 and complete the "It's Probably Pirates" quest. From there, they can head to Old Gridania and speak to the Adventurers' Guild Investigator for more information. The event gives players a chance to earn plenty of in-game items, including the new Circus Ahriman mount and a few favorites from previous ye

The rune Kleptomancy synergizes well with this since the change in patch v8.23, which now can proc off of two basic attacks. While this was a nerf to some champions, Kennen benefits because this playstyle makes great use of the increased AS following E to kite. Also, the possibility of a free consumable is never a bad th

These are the standard runes for Marksmen. In the Precision Tree, Press the Attack gives solid burst damage in short skirmishes, Triumph and Bloodline provide sustainability in teamfights, and Coup de Grace allows Aphelios to secure kills and get further ahead. Then taking Magical Footwear and Biscuit Delivery in the Inspiration Tree gives Aphelios sustainability and survivabil