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Tonight at a special "Unboxing" event at Twitch Con in California, Amazon Game Studios is unveiling several games. The first confirmed title is Breakaway: an eSports-driven experience focused on heroes of mythology competing for prestige and glory.
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They did unbox an "actual" MMO (New World), but I don't think it's going to be what everyone imagines when they think of "sandbox MMO".
Amazon are trying to dominate streamed content delivery, these games are the spearhead of their move into e-sports territory. But they are taking it to a new level, with a blend of e-sports and social media integration that has not been seen before. It might work.
To everyone who constantly said "Twitch.tv doesn't matter and has in no way to do with a game's popularity" -
Amazon obviously has a different opinion on that.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
I think you're wrong, and I think you need to take a look at Battlerite to see how appealing straight up brawlers are with MOBA players right now ( hint: overwhelmingly positive on Steam ).
If Amazon get the balance and strategy down with Breakaway, it will appeal to a huge number of MOBA-players ( more specifically those who are fatigued by "long-play" formats like LoL, HoT and DOTA ( and there are millions of them ) ). Imho, it's closest contemporary is Battlerite ( again, overwhelmingly positive on Steam ) but I have a feeling that Battlerite will lose its appeal very quickly as it is a shallow, hollow game bereft of balance and wing-clipped by a lack of strategy beyond "hit the weakest character first".
Breakaway centers the game on a very simple goal that plays to the "push, roam, structure" core of MOBAs, but removes the "long play" that drives many players away ( which, to be brutally honest, I'm quite surprised you didn't identify given the "I know everything about games" tone you use in your posts ). Ergo, it's identified a very specific and very clear niche that many gamers will appreciate and engage with. As a spectator game, it has more clarity and identity than any MOBA out there right now which will only serve it moving forward.
So yeah, as I said... if Amazon pull this off and get the balance and strategic play down with Breakaway, it'll be the next MOBA hit.
Pro players tend not to be a good representation of market potential; they're quite narrowminded ( unless you pay them to consult on your game ), and tend to rally around the game(s) where they have the best rating or largest following. The fact that your DOTA2 friends rallied against Breakaway isn't surprising, given that the DOTA2 community at the top end is one of the most toxic and anti-social communities out there.
Also, I was in the Twitch chat and from what I remember the vast majority of those talking thought it looked quite good. There were a fair few people in there talking shit over and over again, but the same people saying the same thing over and over again does not a consensus make. At best, the overall response was "balanced"...