It was late 2013. The MOBA gold rush was in full swing. Riot Games was printing money with League of Legends, and Valve had just officially launched Dota 2. Every studio on the planet wanted a piece of that sweet, lane-pushing pie. Enter Turbine, the wizards behind Asheron's Call and Lord of the Rings Online. They didn't just bring a new game to the table; they brought the entire DC Multiverse. The Infinite Crisis MOBA seemed like a literal dream for comic book nerds and competitive gamers alike. You could have Nightmare Batman—a literal vampire version of Bruce Wayne—fighting alongside Atomic Wonder Woman in a post-apocalyptic Gotham City. It sounded perfect.
But it wasn't.
If you weren't there for the beta, you might just remember the game as a blip on the radar. It officially launched on Steam in March 2015 and was shut down by August of that same year. Five months. That’s all the "full version" got. Honestly, it’s one of the most tragic "what-ifs" in gaming history because the game actually had some brilliant ideas that were years ahead of their time.
What Made the Infinite Crisis MOBA Different?
Most people think of MOBAs as static maps. You’ve got your three lanes, your jungle, and some towers. Turbine decided that was boring. They introduced "Map Events" and destructible environments. If you were playing on the Coast City map, a giant meteor could crash into the middle of the arena, changing the terrain and forcing teams to fight over a powerful "Doomsday" device. It was chaotic. It was loud. It felt like a comic book panel come to life.
The roster was the real star, though. Instead of just "Batman," you had variants. Prime Batman was your classic utility-heavy bruiser. Gaslight Batman came from a Victorian steampunk era and played like a high-mobility assassin. Mecha Wonder Woman was a giant robot. This wasn't just lazy skin swapping; these were entirely unique characters with distinct kits and lore. It tapped into that Elseworlds obsession that DC fans have had since the 80s.
Turbine also experimented with the "Stolen Powers" system. Instead of the standard "Summoner Spells" you see in League, you earned powers based on the heroes you unlocked. Want to use Superman’s heat vision on a squishy support? You could do that. It added a layer of customization that felt meaningful, though it was a nightmare to balance.
The Brutal Reality of the 2015 Market
You have to understand the environment back then. It was suffocating. Every time a new MOBA launched, it wasn't just competing for players; it was competing for time. If your friends were already level 30 in League or had hundreds of skins in Dota, getting them to switch to the Infinite Crisis MOBA was a massive ask.
The game suffered from a weird identity crisis. It wanted to be hardcore enough for the esports crowd but accessible enough for the casual DC fan who just wanted to play as The Flash. That middle ground is a dangerous place to live. The learning curve was steep. The "urban" aesthetic of the maps, while cool, often felt cluttered and grey compared to the vibrant, readable colors of its competitors. Players struggled to see what was happening during a 5v5 team fight because the visual effects were just... a lot.
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Then there was the development cycle. It stayed in "Open Beta" for what felt like an eternity. By the time it actually launched on Steam, the hype had curdled. People had already moved on to the next big thing, which, ironically, was the rise of the Hero Shooter. Overwatch was on the horizon. The MOBA bubble was popping.
Why It Actually Closed So Fast
Money talks. Or in this case, the lack of it. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE) saw the numbers and realized they were pouring money into a sinking ship. The player count on Steam peaked at just a few thousand concurrent users shortly after launch. For a game with a license as expensive as DC, those were death sentences.
There’s also the internal shift at Turbine. They were transitioning away from big-budget PC titles toward mobile gaming. You can see the fingerprints of that shift in how the game was managed in its final months. Updates slowed down. Communication from the devs became sporadic. When the announcement came that the game was closing on August 14, 2015, it felt like a mercy killing.
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Lessons from the Multiverse
- IP isn't everything: You can have the best characters in the world, but if the core loop doesn't feel better than the competition, people won't stay.
- Visual Clarity is King: The dark, gritty DC aesthetic made for great screenshots but terrible gameplay readability.
- Timing is Brutal: Launching at the peak of a genre's saturation is a suicide mission unless you have a "hook" that completely changes the game.
The Infinite Crisis MOBA did try to change the game. Its focus on environmental destruction and the "Protectors" (their version of heroes) was genuinely innovative. If you look at modern games like The Finals or even the objective-based shifts in Heroes of the Storm, you can see echoes of what Turbine was trying to do.
How to Experience Infinite Crisis Today
Is it gone forever? Mostly, yes. Since the game was server-reliant, you can't just boot it up and play against bots. However, the community hasn't totally vanished. There are small pockets of fans on Discord and Reddit who have archived the assets and lore.
If you're looking for that specific itch to scratch—playing as DC heroes in a competitive setting—your options are limited but existing:
- Injustice 2: Obviously not a MOBA, but it captures the "Multiverse" gear system and character variants better than almost any other DC game.
- Arena of Valor (DC Skins): For a while, the mobile MOBA Arena of Valor had official DC licenses for Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Joker, and The Flash. However, due to licensing changes and the transition to Honor of Kings, these are becoming rarer to see in active rotation depending on your region.
- MultiVersus: While a platform fighter, it carries the torch of WB's crossover madness. It’s the closest spiritual successor to the "everyone is here" vibe of Infinite Crisis.
The Infinite Crisis MOBA remains a fascinating footnote. It was a game that dared to be different in a genre that demanded conformity. It was a victim of a crowded market, a cluttered art style, and a corporate parent that lost its nerve. But for those five months in 2015, for those who loved seeing a Steampunk Batman punch a Robot Wonder Woman in the face, it was something special.
To truly understand why these games fail, you should look into the "Beta Trap"—the phenomenon where games stay in testing so long that their audience burns out before day one. Compare the launch of Infinite Crisis to the launch of something like Valorant to see how to properly handle a modern competitive release. Search for "failed MOBA post-mortems" to see how Dawngate and Paragon suffered almost identical fates for very different reasons.