Total War: Arena is free-to-play RTS-MOBA-y thing

While the rise of the MOBA has been a fascinating one, it's a shame that so few bandwagon-hoppers have tried to do anything particularly new with it. Or come up with a better name. The Creative Assembly today threw its hat in the general direction of the battle arena, announcing Total War: Arena, which does try something new. The free-to-play PC game will see 10v10 matches where each player controls three units.

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While the rise of the MOBA has been a fascinating one, it's a shame that so few bandwagon-hoppers have tried to do anything particularly new with it. Or come up with a better name. The Creative Assembly today threw its hat in the general direction of the battle arena, announcing Total War: Arena, which does try something new. The free-to-play PC game will see 10v10 matches where each player controls three squads.

Lead designer James Russell revealed the game during a GDC talk, Polygon reports. It's neither Dote 'em up nor LoLercopter, instead described by Russell as a mix of MOBA and RTS.

Players will have manual control over charges, aiming and firing--things that the AI previously handled--so it'll be a bit more twitchy, to make up for having fewer units. Of course, do remember that each unit in Total War games can contain hundreds of man-killers.

Russell said during a Q&A session afterwards that the game won't be set in a fixed time era and may see units from other periods introduced as add-on content, so we may get to answer important questions such as, who'd win in a fight between samurai and Roman legions?

You can sign up for beta testing at the official site.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    March 28, 2013 12:55 PM

    Alice O'Connor posted a new article, Total War: Arena is free-to-play RTS-MOBA-y thing.

    While the rise of the MOBA has been a fascinating one, it's a shame that so few bandwagon-hoppers have tried to do anything particularly new with it. Or come up with a better name. The Creative Assembly today threw its hat in the general direction of the battle arena, announcing Total War: Arena, which does try something new. The free-to-play PC game will see 10v10 matches where each player controls three units.

    • reply
      March 28, 2013 12:57 PM

      I will play anything that says Total War on it.

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      March 28, 2013 12:58 PM

      [deleted]

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      March 28, 2013 12:58 PM

      So does it have the standard DOTA map or what?

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      March 28, 2013 1:10 PM

      Update: Sega released the official announcement. It contains far less information than was revealed during the GDC talk and neither screenshot nor trailer. Cool.

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      March 28, 2013 1:11 PM

      nooooo. I love Total War. I don't want to see it relegated to the MOBA ghetto.

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        March 28, 2013 1:15 PM

        I wouldn't worry about it.Creative Assembly/Sega has already whored out the name to other genres before without impacting the core product.

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      March 28, 2013 2:23 PM

      Shit I want a Total War: Warhammer game

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        March 28, 2013 2:29 PM

        [deleted]

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          March 28, 2013 3:08 PM

          Considering that CA is partnered to make a Warhammer game this is a distinct possibility for next year. We probably won't hear anything more on the project until Rome 2's release.

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      March 28, 2013 2:43 PM

      re: better name

      I'm partial to Fast Action Real Time Strategy.

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        March 29, 2013 4:00 AM

        I'd go with Command Limited Infantry, Tanks and Other Resources Interactively Strategically.

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      March 29, 2013 12:09 AM

      Is it going to have the crazy mashup of opponents that MOBAs are usually known for? Samurai vs. Romans vs. Redcoats, go!

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      March 29, 2013 4:48 AM

      Is it me, or is the MOBA market completely saturated at this point? It sorta feels like the new post-WoW bandwagon that everybody is jumping on (with the notable exception that you can build a MOBA for a lot less money than a large-scale MMO).

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        March 29, 2013 5:55 AM

        ehhhh look how many people play LoL

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          March 29, 2013 6:07 AM

          That's my point. Anyone outside of LoL and Dota 2 are an "also ran" at this point, aren't they?

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        March 29, 2013 6:22 AM

        Not just you, a lot of these seem like money grabs plain and simple. I'm sure it'll shake out over the next few years leaving LoL, Dota2, and maybe a couple of smaller ones still standing.

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