An announcement has been made via the official Heroes of Newerth (HoN) facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/heroesofnewerth?ref=ts) that the open beta will be coming to an end on Wednesday May 12, to make way for a retail release.
The game which is closely modelled on the WarCraft III mod Defense of the Ancients (DotA) has become incredibly popular with online PC gamers. Over 2,550,000 users took part in the beta phase, and the beta was opened to the public on the last day of March 2010. This means that a beta key is no longer required to play the game. On average there are around 50,000 people playing HoN at any given time, and even in its beta stage it is steadily gaining traction in competitive gaming communities around the world.
Currently there is no physical release planned, and players will essentially be able to buy an account for $30 (R220), and then download the client.
It remains to be seen how many gamers migrate to the retail version, as the fact that it has been free-to-play up until now has made it especially enticing for PC gamers.
In the 5 hours since the announcement was made, a whopping 917 comments have been left on the facebook page, a large portion of which are negative with many gamers stating that they will go back to playing DotA which is still a free mod for WarCraft III.
On the other hand, hundreds of gamers have posted positive comments, with the general expectation being that players will no longer be able to pladuplicate accounts, and that the “beta noobs and feeders” will leave the game.
Discuss HoN in the forums – http://mygaming.co.za/forum/showthread.php?5504-Hon-Retail-Date-Set
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