Blizzard wants to reclaim lost territory which it never really lost in the first place. With the upcoming release of Heroes of the Storm, it takes aim at the leading multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game, League of Legends.

MOBA games are different from massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) due to the limits or boundaries of the action. All the game activities happen within a fixed boundary, and all the players start off at the same time. In MMORPG, players can develop their in-game character from scratch and return to it on their own time. In addition, most MMORPG playing areas are also large and there is usually the option for the player to choose which area they want to play in. League of Legends is currently the leading MOBA game.

Blizzard inadvertently created the MOBA genre with their release of World of Warcraft. The user-modified Defense of the Ancients (DoTA) became the first MOBA and was a success without any prodding from Blizzard. DoTA later became the property of Valve and Blizzard has not been able to field a successful MOBA.

Heroes of the Storm itself is the latest iteration of Blizzard DoTA and is based on StarCraft II. It was later reintroduced as a stand-alone game called Blizzard All-Stars. It was then re-packaged and introduced at Blizzcon 2013 as Heroes of the Storm.

Blizzard is serious at making a dent on the MOBA market as much as it did with the MMORPG genre. For one, it aims to make Heroes accessible to new users. Second, there will be a limited communication facility for chatting between players. It has been the experience of new MOBA players that newbies don't get enough help from more experienced players. In addition, the game has no store where players can purchase items to customize their characters.

Blizzard may be gambling a lot on Heroes, but considering their clout and batting average, League of Legends should be looking over their shoulders and watching out for the new game.