We’ve learned Heroes of Newerth, long a competitor to other big MOBA games, has shut down.

Heroes of Newerth was a MOBA that actually had its initial beta release at around the same time as League of Legends back in 2009. It’s considered one of the earliest competitors that had a chance against the current giants we see today in the MOBA space.

In 2019, major patches for Heroes of Newerth ended. Following this, the only updates coming focused solely on bug fixes and minor balance changes. The game operated on life support until this year, however.

The MOBA game shuttered its servers with both S2 Games and Frostburn Studios confirming Heroes of Newerth would be shutting down today, June 20th. Now that the final day has come, the team has stayed true to that promise as the servers have been shut down.

Despite the initial praise for Heroes of Newerth, titles such as League of Legends and DOTA 2 took the top spots when it came to the number of players. There were also additional games such as Smite and Heroes of the Storm which garnered more attention for various reasons.

Over time, Heroes of Newerth struggled with its player count and support for the game slowed to a near halt. The original developers, S2 Games, handed the project to Frostburn Studios in 2015, by selling it to publisher Garena. S2 Games then moved on to work on another MOBA known as Strife.

This news marks the end of a long era when it comes to the longstanding members of the MOBA community. What do you think? Were you someone who played Heroes of Newerth at any time during its long existence? Sound off in the comments below!