Heroes of Newerth is shutting down in 2022 after 11 years

Heroes of Newerth fans will have to say goodbye to their favorite MOBA in 2022.

After 11 years of development, second-generation MOBA game Heroes of Newerth will be officially shut down. The developers posted the announcement through official social media channels. The game will still be available until June of 2022, which is plenty of time to get a few final games in. The developer has planned a special Farewell Event to send the game off with a bang.

The official announcement did not reveal the exact reasons for HoN shutting down, but it is likely related to the dwindling player base. The majority of the Heroes of Newerth community has moved on to other games. Servers and upkeep are expensive for any game, so the low player count makes taking down HoN servers a financial decision.

HoN was a spiritual successor to the original Dota Warcraft III mod. The game served as an interim title before the release of League of Legends and Dota 2. The game’s influence is still very apparent in both titles. Many esports players trace their competitive roots back to when HoN was the premier MOBA, including one of Dota 2’s all-time greats Johan “N0tail” Sundstein.

When is HoN shutting down?

The official date for Heroes of Newerth shutting down is June 20, 2022. That leaves six more months of official support. Players will not be able to create new accounts after December of 2021.

To celebrate the life of HoN, there will be a special Farewell Event from December 20, 2021 to February 19, 2022. There will be several ways to earn bonus silver coins and plinko tickets, and the diamond chest from plinko is now four times more common. Players will also be able to gift up to five items from the HoN store using gold coins.

The Heroes of Newerth team will gradually shut down official media channels after the game servers go down. While the game will no longer be playable, the legacy of HoN lives on in modern MOBAs like Dota 2 and League of Legends. In fact, many Dota 2 fans often request for HoN heroes to be ported to their game. Now that Heroes of Newerth is shutting down, there’s never been a better time for Valve to keep the game’s spirit alive.