As the Esports World Cup garners global attention, showcasing a vast array of competitive titles, it’s easy to overlook the games that once harbored similar ambitions but ultimately faded from the spotlight. For every new discipline emerging on the scene, there are titles that once aimed for esports glory, only to see their professional ecosystems crumble, their grand tournaments reduced to mere footnotes in history. This exploration delves into five such games that earnestly sought a place in the professional esports landscape, only to witness their aspirations dissolve.
Our focus here is on games that genuinely attempted to cultivate a professional scene, not those with fleeting ambitions or titles from the nascent days of competitive gaming like early Need for Speed entries in the World Cyber Games. We are examining the contenders that entered the arena, fought for relevance, and ultimately lost.
Paladins: The Shadowed Contender
Often perceived as a more accessible alternative to Overwatch, Paladins emerged as a team-based shooter with a similar hero-based class system, objective control, and ultimate abilities. Its cartoonish fantasy aesthetic bore a striking resemblance to Blizzard`s title, differing primarily in graphical fidelity and the unique perk-buying system (and, notably, horseback riding). Launched into open beta just months after Overwatch`s release, Paladins perpetually occupied the role of the “budget clone.”
Despite this perceived handicap, Hi-Rez Studios, its developer, made a determined push into esports. Tournaments began as early as 2017, attracting major organizations such as Virtus.pro, NAVI, NIP, and Team Envy. Hi-Rez even hosted substantial LAN events, including a 2019 World Championship in Atlanta boasting a $300,000 prize pool. The ecosystem was robust: dedicated broadcast studios, regional qualifiers, and professional teams. Yet, one critical element remained elusive: a significant audience. Like Overwatch, Paladins proved challenging to observe, requiring an observer of near-genius capability to capture all critical moments without inducing viewer disorientation or boredom. While Overwatch temporarily masked this issue with a colossal marketing budget and the grand spectacle of the Overwatch League, Paladins lacked the financial muscle to replicate such an effort.
Ultimately, Paladins` esports viewership never surpassed a 100,000 peak. In early 2021, Hi-Rez announced the cessation of official esports support. By 2025, the game itself would cease receiving new content, a quiet end to a title that once aimed high.
GWENT: A Witcher Tale Unto Itself
Born from a mini-game within the beloved The Witcher 3, GWENT, the collectible card game, carried the potential for a success story akin to Dota 2`s evolution from a Warcraft III mod. Official tournaments commenced during its beta phase in 2017, a time when its mechanics and visuals differed substantially from its eventual full release.
CD Projekt RED, the game`s esteemed developer, clearly harbored serious esports ambitions. They hosted events in uniquely fitting, atmospheric locations—championships held in castles, or even within the depths of salt mines. These captivating LANs, some boasting $100,000 prize pools (one of which notably featured The International champion, Peter “ppd” Dager), were complemented by regular online leagues. CD Projekt RED meticulously crafted a professional season, culminating in a World Championship with a $250,000 prize pool. It was a beautiful, soulful endeavor.
Yet, like many CCGs, competitive GWENT struggled to attract a large audience. Its peak viewership barely touched 50,000. Card games, by their nature, are often less visually spectacular for the casual observer. Furthermore, GWENT`s official release in late 2018 brought significant mechanical changes, making the game more complex and altering the balance in ways that alienated a segment of its existing player base. CD Projekt RED continued to support the professional scene for several more years, but the unique LANs vanished, and prize pools diminished. The last official event, a World Championship, occurred in 2023 with a notably modest prize fund. Post-2023, official game support ceased entirely, leaving GWENT to the community and effectively ending its esports journey.
Heroes of the Storm: The Patient Pulled from Life Support
Perhaps the most poignant example of an esports scene`s untimely demise, Heroes of the Storm (HotS) was Blizzard`s ambitious MOBA, featuring characters from across their vast universes. It wasn`t content to merely emulate Dota 2 or League of Legends; HotS sought to revolutionize the genre by fundamentally altering its rules and offering a fresh experience. Initially, HotS found a substantial audience, fostering a vibrant esports scene. The first Heroes of the Storm World Championship took place in 2015, drawing interest from prominent organizations like Cloud9, NAVI, MVP, Fnatic, and Dignitas.
The professional season was robust, featuring numerous transitional events with prize pools ranging from $100,000 to $400,000, culminating in an annual BlizzCon World Championship boasting a million-dollar prize. HotS esports appeared, in every respect, to be a tier-S discipline: excellent production values, dedicated studios, enthusiastic live audiences, and renowned team tags. Blizzard even established a collegiate league in the US, mirroring traditional sports structures.
However, beneath this impressive facade, rumors circulated regarding HotS`s financial performance. Blizzard`s late entry into the MOBA market made it challenging to compete with the established giants, and the company struggled to solidify a suitable monetization model. Then, a mere month after the conclusion of the 2018 World Championship, Blizzard delivered a shock announcement: the competitive scene was being frozen. HotS esports, at the time of its closure, was not a comatose patient; it was a fully functional, active discipline. But, in Blizzard`s assessment, it simply wasn`t profitable enough. And just like that, the history of competitive HotS ended. While community-driven crowdfunding efforts have since hosted a few professional events, these are but echoes of a once-thriving scene. In 2022, Blizzard formally ceased all support for HotS itself, sealing its fate.
Wild Rift: The Mobile Gambit That Arrived Too Late
On paper, Wild Rift, the mobile iteration of Riot Games` behemoth League of Legends, seemed destined for success. Taking the world`s most popular MOBA and adapting it for the most popular platform among younger audiences, all under the guidance of a company with unparalleled esports experience – what could possibly go wrong?
The critical misstep was timing. Riot Games arrived significantly late to the mobile MOBA party. By Wild Rift`s release in late 2020, established mobile titans like Honor of Kings (Arena of Valor outside China) and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) were already celebrating their fifth anniversaries. Capturing a substantial audience and rapidly building an esports base in such a saturated market proved immensely challenging.
Riot Games, drawing on its vast experience, launched its first tier-1 championship a year after release. With a $500,000 prize pool, it attracted familiar names like Team Secret and TSM. Yet, the event`s metrics were underwhelming: a peak viewership of only 62,000. Attributing this to the game`s youth, Riot redoubled its efforts for the first full World Championship. They deployed their full marketing arsenal: cinematic trailers, music videos, elaborate stage designs in Singapore, and star-studded promotional campaigns. The prize pool was even boosted to a staggering two million dollars. It was designed to replicate the magic of League of Legends esports. The result, however, was not just a disappointment but a catastrophic failure: the championship`s peak viewership plummeted to 54,000, with interest actually declining by the playoffs. For context, Honor of Kings boasted nearly 400,000 concurrent viewers, and MLBB regularly achieved millions.
Months later, Riot announced the curtailment of Wild Rift esports support across all regions except Asia. While a limited professional scene persists in Asia, featuring smaller leagues and prize pools, its global presence has largely evaporated. Riot now experiments with entertainment-focused events featuring content creators and casual players, a clear departure from a full-fledged professional circuit.
Auto Chess: The Genre Pioneer`s Swift Decline
The “chess boom” of 2019, ignited by Drodo Studio`s custom map, Dota Auto Chess, was nothing short of phenomenal. This mod not only boosted Dota`s average concurrent players by nearly 25% in mere months but also spawned an entirely new genre: auto battlers. Titles like Valve`s Dota Underlords, Riot Games` Teamfight Tactics, and Drodo`s standalone Auto Chess (sans the “Dota” moniker) emerged almost instantly.
Released just months after the custom map`s breakout success, standalone Auto Chess, supported by Dragonest, seemed poised to lead this new wave of esports. The interest in auto battlers was immense; the original Dota Auto Chess mod had amassed 7 million players and a 300,000 average concurrent player count in a couple of months. Naturally, Drodo and Dragonest anticipated similar success for their independent title. Initial esports events, with prize pools ranging from $5,000 to $10,000, had already been held for the custom map. With the standalone release, they went all-in, announcing a million-dollar World Championship—a sum previously reserved for only a handful of the industry`s top-tier disciplines.
The 32-player tournament in Shanghai, though international, received official broadcasting only for the Chinese audience, making definitive viewership metrics elusive. However, the aftermath was telling: following the Auto Chess Invitational 2019, the developers` enthusiasm for significant esports investment waned. While smaller Auto Chess events persisted, grand championships and million-dollar prize pools became a thing of the past. The last significant international tournament for the game occurred in 2021. More broadly, the initial hype surrounding the entire auto battler genre faded rapidly, impacting all titles within it, not just Auto Chess. Fittingly, the official Auto Chess website has seen no news updates since 2023.
A curious anecdote: one professional player from Team Liquid, known for his stint in Artifact (another game with failed esports ambitions), transitioned to Auto Chess. Some might say he had a particular knack for finding the wrong side of the competitive ledger.
The Unforgiving Nature of Esports
The stories of Paladins, GWENT, Heroes of the Storm, Wild Rift, and Auto Chess serve as stark reminders of the brutal realities of the esports market. Success is not merely a product of significant investment, a popular intellectual property, or even an innovative gameplay concept. It demands consistent, compelling viewership, a sustainable economic model, and the ability to carve out a unique space in an increasingly saturated ecosystem.
These games, once beacons of competitive promise, now lie in the silent graveyard of esports ambition, their professional scenes mere echoes of what might have been. They stand as cautionary tales, illustrating that even with the best intentions and substantial backing, the competitive gaming world remains an unforgiving landscape where only the most resilient, adaptable, and financially viable titles can truly thrive.
Finley Holt