In 2026, an unlikely studio is reinventing the MOBA genre. Not just in a less fantastical setting, March of Giants by the March of Giants Team, formerly Amazon Studio Montreal, and Ubisoft is being developed by MOBA fans and ex-Rainbow Six Siege developers. They’ve taken the history of MOBAs to make something wholly unique, and after playing a bit, I’m inclined to agree.
The first key difference is the setting. March of Giants is on a World War 1 style battlefield. But instead of soldiers storming each other from trenches and leveled cities, the battles are supported by giants. These are fairytale beings come to life, influenced by the ongoing war, to change the landscape of fighting. While there isn’t much story yet, the premise fits a MOBA spectacularly. Most importantly, the developers have used this setting to reshape how the genre plays.
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March of Giants‘s big distinct feature is its soldiers. While it still has the fodder that storms down lanes in perpetuity, each Giant can recruit them for their own command. Each Giant has a max number of soldiers they can control, but that can increase over the course of a 20 to 30 minute match. And what’s the point of controlling these soldiers?
Well, they are a great way of taking down other Giants and enemy forts. Controlling the soldiers was highly reminiscent of the origins of the first MOBA, DOTA. It brings the genre’s RTS origins back into the hero-controlling fun it’s become.
March of Giant is a MOBA that brings fairy tales to life.
Understanding how to use soldiers is as key to winning a match as understanding your Giant. Even after just a couple of matches, the simplified RTS controls for this system were pretty second nature after getting a handle on it. You can direct where they go, what they attack, and even have them set up defenses or capture objectives on your behalf. Plus, as the Giants are from the imaginations of these fighters, some abilities get stronger the more soldiers you have under your command.
Again, the soldiers alone are a great twist on the genre that already sets its mark. But what cements it is the Giant design. At the launch of the playtest, there will be 16 playable Giants, and each one is wholly unique in design and abilities. Plus, with March of Giants being 4v4 instead of the usual 5v5 set-up, the maps are compact enough to allow for easy navigation and more synergy in Giants.
What was great to see was how war-like every Giant actually was. Their patchwork clothing is reminiscent of different periods of war. Some are more themed after the picture of glory, of victory. Others are highly outlandish creatures of weather, of the unknown, and of actual fantasy.
For controlling the actual Giants, it’s very much like a classic MOBA in execution, including purchasing items. Yet they are improved to be able to take out soldiers with a big stomp. You are a giant, well… Giant walking on a battlefield surrounded by ants.
But you need to balance taking out enemy soldiers and fodder to give your own a better chance at reducing a base’s defense or taking down an enemy Giant. For the two Giants that I played, they ranged from a healer that could stun and clear waves with the power of light and freedom to a demolitionist tank that controlled lanes by causing earthquakes and ramming into buildings.
The objectives of the playable map are also true to the 1900s war theme. There’s still the usual jungle (that you can destroy the trees with your stomp), but you’re more focused on taking down enemy encampments where they can go and buy equipment close to a lane.
Or fighting over a point to take control of a siege tank to deal massive damage to enemy structures. With a mix of fantasy, which the MOBA genre is highly used to, and realism, March of Giants is wholly unique, which is needed for coming out with a new one in 2026. Plus, after talking to the developers during a demo, they are setting themselves up for success by creating a healthy community around it.
March of Giants Team’s MOBA feels wholly unique.
One of their main goals is fighting toxicity. They have a team of ex-Rainbow Six Siege safety experts who are focused on keeping the game and its players from being inundated by bad actors. They’ve already implemented tools to fight smurfing and griefing, and will be paying close attention to any new patterns that they need to tackle that they didn’t think of before.
March of Giants and its team are paving a new way forward in a genre that was seen as going on the way out. Already, the March of Giants Team and Ubisoft are showing that, with their creativity, they have a lot of ideas to make their mark on MOBAs.
From its Giant design to already perceived lore, they are doing a stellar job of staying wholly unique and standing out. Plus, after playing several matches already, I can’t wait to play more. Now hopefully they have a way to make sure I don’t become my 2012 self again with the new MOBA in town.
March of Giants playtest begins October 8th, exclusively on PC, and will be free-to-play at launch.
