Dota 2
Dota 2
GabeN talks moving The International, CSGO majors to New Zealand
Steven Rondina
Gabe Newell has essentially moved to New Zealand, and he might be taking his games’ biggest tournaments with him. Speaking with 1 News, the Valve Software CEO discussed the possibility of hosting major Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive events in New Zealand. Though he stopped short of saying local fans should start clearing their calendars, he acknowledged that there is a strong possibility of it happening next year. “Is …
Dota 2
Vici Gaming remains atop Dota 2 player rankings, but zai climbs
Steven Rondina
The 2021 Dota Pro Circuit season is here and the effects of this new competitive format is now being felt. In the rankings, one thing that’s being felt is the depth of the Chinese region. After months of Team Secret dominance over the top five, China has almost completely taken over. Four of the top five players come from China and that number could increase further. Here are where things …
Dota 2
Evil Geniuses, Fnatic look to climb back into top 10 Dota 2 teams
Steven Rondina
The 2021 Dota Pro Circuit is officially underway and with that, it’s a good time to take a look at where top teams stand heading into the season. There hasn’t been too much action since the last installment of the rankings, but top teams that were forced through the qualifiers saw their stocks rise slightly. Most of the standings should look familiar, but the makings of a major shift are …
Dota 2
New DPC may still see top teams and players live in poverty
Steven Rondina
The new Dota Pro Circuit is here and, in theory, it’s much better than the one that was in place before it. But in practice, many of the previous issues still linger on unsolved. The transition to regional leagues is meant to offer more teams the opportunity to make a serious run as professionals in Dota 2, and the median prize pool winnings will likely jump by a significant margin …
Dota 2
Fogged, BSJ denied entry to Europe to cast 2021 DPC leagues
Steven Rondina
DreamHack and ESL got dealt a surprise blow to their upcoming Dota Pro Circuit leagues. Ioannis “Fogged” Loucas and Brian “BSJ” Canavan were turned away at the Swedish border. The pair were traveling to Europe in order to serve on the commentary desk for both ESL’s CIS DPC League and DreamHack’s Europe DPC League. The pair announced the situation on Twitter: I have been rejected entry to Europe. Looks like I …
Dota 2
Valve just disqualified self-reporting players from NA DPC League
Steven Rondina
The Dota Pro Circuit 2021 season is just about to start, and issues keep on popping up. Beyond the Summit has announced the disqualification of It’s Okay, a team led by former Alliance player Niclas “Niqua” Westergård, from the upcoming North American DPC League lower division. The move stems from one of the players, KKT, competing in the qualifiers to multiple Dota Pro Circuit leagues. KKT was the only player …
Dota 2
N0tail shows off $2 million 17-bedroom mansion in BBC interview
Steven Rondina
Johan “N0tail” Sundstein is doing very well for himself. The OG captain and highest-earning esports player in Dota 2 history did an interview with the BBC, discussin a number of topics including the mental toll competition takes on him and his own strengths and weaknesses in the game. But the most memorable part of the interview was when he showed off his enormous mansion in Lisbon, Portugal. Team houses are …
Dota 2
Valve just removed 23 unreleased Dota 2 heroes from game files
Steven Rondina
Valve is cleaning up Dota 2, and for many, that’s actually kind of disappointing. The publisher is pruning out some unused files that are included when installing Dota 2. Among those files are numerous incomplete heroes that have been the subject of fan theories and predictions over recent months. The change was unearthed by DOTA Datamining and posted to Reddit. The changes removed files relating to 23 unreleased heroes. 19 …
Outworld Destroyer is getting huge buffs in Dota 2 update 7.28b
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
With the Dota Pro Circuit league qualifiers mostly done, Valve is cleaning up its game in anticipation of the season’s start. Part of that work includes the launch of update 7.28b. The patch brought changes to a long list of heroes and items, and while most of them are small, they should add up to a big shift. The most heavily impacted hero is Outworld Destroyer. Though the intelligence carry …
Auto Chess devs are making a new MOBA to rival Dota 2
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Auto Chess, the game that launched the auto battler genre, is returning to its roots. But that doesn’t mean it’s going back to being a fan-made game mode for Dota 2. No, Auto Chess is returning to its roots by getting a standalone MOBA spinoff using its cast of lookalike characters. The new game was revealed by Auto Chess publisher Dragonest with a promotional trailer. #AutoChessMOBA: The Auto Chess themed …
DeMoN likely banned by Valve over assault allegations
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Jimmy “DeMoN” Ho’s Dota 2 esports career is seemingly at an end. Beyond the Summit announced that the veteran has been banned from the closed qualifiers for the North America DPC League. The team currently competing as Aristotle now has the chance to replace DeMoN from its lineup for the remainder of the qualifiers. The news was announced by Beyond the Summit on its official Twitter account: Player Jimmy “DeMoN” …
Febby returns to pro play to support and captain TNC Predator
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
At long last, TNC Predator has completed its Dota 2 roster. The organization announced that its coach Kim “Febby” Yong-min has returned to active competition, and will be taking on the dual role of hard support and captain. The announcement was made in a post on Twitter: Today we announce that we are releasing Kim Yong Min, better know as Febby, from coaching ……and welcoming him back officially as our …
OGA Dota PIT DPC league blasted by fans, pros for qualifiers
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Growing pains are a constant when it comes to Dota 2 esports, and the transition to the new Dota Pro Circuit is no different. The regional leagues are already underway, and while some have been well-received by fans, others have immediately drummed up controversy. The biggest offender is OGA Dota PIT’s South American league, which has frustrated fans and pro players alike over the past week. The latest controversy stems …
This crazy video shows Dota 2 as a first-person shooter
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
What would Dota 2 look like as a first-person shooter? Content creator W200ME decided to give fans a good look at the possibility in a first-person shooter video contest. The video has caught the eyes of Dota 2 fans due to its unique perspective, showing the perspective of an overpowered Sniper taking to the lanes and wiping out enemy creeps and heroes. The video is heavily stylized and shows Sniper …
DPC League qualifiers sees 3 new NA teams
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The Dota Pro Circuit leagues are set to begin in just a few days and with that is a crush of new teams coming together. North American Dota 2 has had just a handful of active teams so, unsurprisingly, there’s a number of prominent free agents available to mix and match into new rosters. Three have already come together, with a number of familiar faces combining with new talent. The …
Evil Geniuses tops list of team invites to NA DPC league
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
North America’s Dota Pro Circuit league is heading in an interesting direction. Beyond the Summit revealed the four invitees for the upper division. There are no surprises to be found, as North America has been thin on pro Dota 2 teams over recent months. The list of invited teams includes: Evil Geniuses Quincy Crew 4 Zoomers SADBOYS Happy Sunday ????Say hello to NA’s first 4 representatives who will compete to …
Newbee players and organization given permanent ban from Valve
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
One of Dota 2’s most credentialed organizations has been permanently banned from the game. Wykrhm Reddy announced that Newbee and its 2020 roster have been given a permanent ban from any Valve-sponsored events. This functionally ends Newbee’s existence in Dota 2, and the careers of the players that were attached to its roster in May. Newbee’s lineup at the time included the following players: Xu “Moogy” Han Yin “Aq” Rui …
Mushi’s IO Dota2 sponsored by JJ Lin’s PUBG org Team SMG
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
After a number of shifts, Chai “Mushi” Yee Fung’s IO Dota2 squad is back in action with a new roster and a new sponsor. IO Dota2 is now playing under the banner of Team Still Moving Under Gunfire, typically abbreviated as Team SMG. Team SMG’s Dota 2 squad is made up of the IO Dota2 lineup that appeared in the Huya Dota2 Winter Invitational. It includes the following players: Cheng …
Dota 2 streamer mason banned from Twitch for a third time
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
One of Dota 2’s top streamers has been banned. Mason “mason” Venne has been slapped with another ban from Twitch, his third in just nine months. Although Twitch’s three-strike policy used to come with the potential for a permanent ban, that doesn’t seem to be a worry for mason. He took to Twitter shortly after the ban was announced and revealed that it was a one-week ban: 7 day vacation. …
These were the highest-earning Dota 2 teams of 2020
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
With 2020 over and all notable esports events on hold ahead of the launch of the 2021 Dota Pro Circuit season, Liquipedia has tallied the top-earning Dota 2 teams of the year. Though the list largely reads as a who’s who of the most successful teams in Dota 2’s history, the list actually stands as an indictment of the state of the Dota 2 pro scene. Not necessarily because of …
Few games have proven to have the resilient popularity enjoyed by Dota 2. The multiplayer online battle arena, or MOBA for short, has been among the biggest and most successful projects released by gaming giant Valve, and it continues to enjoy great popularity to this day.
That popularity has endured despite a great number of changes that have been made to both the game itself and to the communities surrounding it. The competitive title’s history reaches all the way back to another game created and published by another developer, but with Valve now leading the way, Dota 2 seems primed to last well into the future.
From Blizzard to Valve, Dota 2 continues to evolve
While know today as one of Valve’s key game properties, Dota 2 has its origins in a real-time strategy game developed and published by famed video game company Blizzard. One of the franchises that keyed Blizzard’s success and reputational growth in the games industry is WarCraft, which today is best-known for the popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft.
But prior to the success of World of Warcraft, the high-fantasy franchise was experienced through a series of RTS games. The third main title in that series, WarCraft 3, provided players not only with a great experience right out of the box, but also with the opportunity to heavily modify the game and its functions, and to play modified versions of the experience as custom games online with other players.
The most popular of these custom game modes was arguably Defense of the Ancients, or DotA for short. This custom game mode saw two teams of players face off against each other with strong individual champion characters, as opposed to building out complex home bases and developing broad armies of diverse units.
It was an entirely different way to play the game, and it proved so popular that would eventually give birth to an entirely new genre of video games: the MOBA genre.
The continuation of the original DotA became Dota 2, a project developed under the guidance of famed developer and publisher Valve. Flush with success from online marketplace Steam and its own franchises including Half-Life and Portal, Valve was more than willing to invest in this new and innovative game type.
The International sets Dota 2 apart
While there have been many other competitive games created and released since, including other popular MOBAs such as Riot Games’ League of Legends, Dota 2 has stood apart for remaining true to its roots and for massive competitive events like The International. First held in 2011 for the purpose of bringing together disparate competitive teams from all around the world with more than $1 million on the line, the esports tournament quickly grew into the biggest such event of each calendar year.
One of the main drivers behind that immense growth was the upwards trajectory of the tournament’s prize pool. Partially funded by Dota 2 players and esports fans, the prize pool for The International began increasing in 2013 and eventually ballooned to a massive total of over $40 million by the time 2021 rolled around. For the groups of players and coaches who climbed this mountain and won its top prize, it was a truly life-changing event.
For varied reasons, Valve eventually soured on running the event itself and on the idea of having so much money filtered into one specific event. Prize winnings were dropped significantly in 2022, and even further for the 2023 and 2024 events. But despite the prizes on hand no longer being quite so astronomical, The International still boasts a prize in the low millions, and it remains the biggest event on the Dota 2 competitive calendar and arguably on the greater esports calendar across all games.
