Heroes of Newerth esports returns with HoN Reborn tournament

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 29/10/2025

Heroes of Newerth is set to return to esports with a $100,000 prize pool tournament for HoN Reborn entitled ‘Heroes of Newerth: Reborn Global Tournament.’

The tournament is supported by Heroes of Newerth Reborn developers, Kongor Studios, as the classic MoBA returns to esports.

Kongor Studios outline Heroes of Newerth’s return to esports

Kongor Studios stated:

“The team at Kongor Studios are thrilled to announce the first ever Heroes of Newerth: Reborn Global Tournament, complete with a $100,000 USD prize pool! The tournament will be open to all players and feature an open-qualifier structure.

“There will be more info on the tournament in the coming weeks, including how to register and how the format will work. For now, players can look forward to the upcoming Open Beta for Heroes of Newerth: Reborn, which kicks off on November 11th.”

The return will be a fascinating reintroduction into esports, which has substantially changed since HoN’s esports peak in 2017 and 2018.

The game’s viewership peak came at HoN Tour World Finals in 2017, with 15,256 viewers according to viewership aggregator Esports Charts.

The event was, at the time, the culmination of the HoN circuit. Nevertheless, it never received the esports fanfare of its MoBA competitors, League of Legends and DotA 2.

What is Heroes of Newerth Reborn?

Heroes of Newerth Reborn is the revival and modernisation project for Heroes of Newerth.

Heroes of Newerth Reborn is developed by Kongor Studios, who describe themselves as “an indie group of HoN fanatics comprised of original S2 Games’ HoN developers, Frostburn Studios veterans and current Project Kongor community contributors.”

Their mission statement ends, “Our passion is HoN, we’ve missed it! It is time to return it to its previous glory.”

The project is supported by crowdfunding and is soon to enter its Beta phase on November 11, after its alpha release in May.

Heroes of Newerth was originally developed by S2 Games. S2 initially released the game in 2010; the game was then passed on to Frostbite Studios in 2015.

Over the course of its lifetime, the game’s cultural relevance and playerbase dwindled as League of Legends and DotA 2 captured many of its players.

The game ultimately ceased operations in 2022, following an announcement in December 2021.

Despite the game shutting down, the game remained playable on community servers, with the community also supporting some esports tournaments with modest or zero prize pools.

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.

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