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We finally know what Juggernaut’s face looks like under his mask Dota 2 We finally know what Juggernaut’s face looks like under his mask By Steven Rondina Dendi and B8 stumble in LA Major qualifiers, but future still bright Dota 2 Dendi and B8 stumble in LA Major qualifiers, but future still bright By gabhernandez TNC Predator fails to qualify for ESL LA Major, minor still in play Dota 2 TNC Predator fails to qualify for ESL LA Major, minor still in play By Steven Rondina
This Dota 2 fountain hook strategy with Pudge is unexpected News
This Dota 2 fountain hook strategy with Pudge is unexpected Steven Rondina Fountain hooking is back, but not in the way you’d expect. A new form of the practice, which sees a Pudge hook a hero and drag them to an unexpected location, is making the rounds on Reddit. As the name would suggest, fountain hooking is traditionally used to drag an enemy hero into one’s own fountain to secure a kill. But in this case, the ability is being used to …
New OG dominates LA Major qualifiers while some big names lose Dota 2
New OG dominates LA Major qualifiers while some big names lose Steven Rondina Most of the open qualifiers for the ESL One Los Angeles Major have wrapped up. A number of notable teams were doomed to be eliminated from the proceedings, but there were still a surprising number of high-end squads that washed out. Among the teams that fell short of the regional qualifiers are Godsent, T1, Winstrike Team. B8, and Cloud9. This cuts them out of both the StarLadder Season 3 Minor …
New OG roster debuts by crushing opponents in ESL LA qualifiers Dota 2
New OG roster debuts by crushing opponents in ESL LA qualifiers Steven Rondina The new version of OG has made its debut in the open qualifiers to the ESL One Los Angeles Major. As is often the case, OG’s journey started with something of a softball matchup against a team known as Back 2 Bulgaria. Back 2 Bulgaria isn’t a professional team, but put in a good effort against OG. The highlight for the team came in the early game, which saw SpOTxY …
TNC top DPC standings before ESL One Los Angeles Major qualifiers Dota 2
TNC top DPC standings before ESL One Los Angeles Major qualifiers gabhernandez Despite an early exit at the DreamLeague Leipzig Major, TNC Predator remains at the top of the Dota Pro Circuit rankings heading into the ESL One Los Angeles Major. The 12 teams with the most DPC points at the end of the season will receive a direct invite to The International 2020. While there is still a lot of Dota 2 left to play, these 12 teams are currently positioned …
PSG.LGD trades longtime carry Ame before Los Angeles Major Dota 2 PSG.LGD trades longtime carry Ame before Los Angeles Major By Steven Rondina J.Storm seemingly loses Dota 2 team, possibly dissolving Dota 2 J.Storm seemingly loses Dota 2 team, possibly dissolving By Steven Rondina Dota 2 fans furious over ESL One Los Angeles regional slots Dota 2 Dota 2 fans furious over ESL One Los Angeles regional slots By Steven Rondina
The latest Dota 2 update brought bugs that ruin games and more Dota 2
The latest Dota 2 update brought bugs that ruin games and more Steven Rondina The most recent Dota 2 update has left the game in a bad spot for many different players. A small patch arrived on February 3, bringing various small tweaks to things like localization and cosmetic slots. Those changes had a much greater effect on Dota 2 than just that however, as a slew of bugs have popped up as a result. Dota 2 players have reported a wide-ranging number of …
Coronavirus hits Dota 2 with delays to ESL One Major qualifiers Dota 2
Coronavirus hits Dota 2 with delays to ESL One Major qualifiers Steven Rondina Dota 2 isn’t immune to the effects of the coronavirus. Just a few days out from the ESL One Los Angeles Major qualifiers, Valve has rescheduled the proceedings for the Chinese region. While the open qualifiers will kick off on February 7 for the other five regions, China’s schedule was pushed back five days to February 12. The announcement was made through Huomao TV in a notice on social media …
Valve modeling new Dota 2 pro scene after League of Legends Dota 2
Valve modeling new Dota 2 pro scene after League of Legends Steven Rondina First there was the Valve major era, then there was the Dota Pro Circuit era, and after The International 2020, we will see the league era. According to a report by TeamLiquid.net, Valve is set to heavily overhaul the professional Dota 2 scene following The International 2020. The new Dota Pro Circuit format will be comprised of three majors and a series of tiered regional leagues. These leagues will replace …
T1 has a new Dota 2 roster for the ESL One Los Angeles Major Dota 2
T1 has a new Dota 2 roster for the ESL One Los Angeles Major Steven Rondina T1’s Dota 2 experiment continues, with a new roster being registered for the qualifiers to the ESL One Los Angeles Major. The newest version of T1 features a multinational group of players: Dominik “Black^” Reitmeier Muhammad “inYourdreaM” Rizky Lee “Forev” Sang-don Tri “Jhocam” Kuncoro Yixaun “xuan” Guo Korean star Forev is the only player that remains from the last iteration of the team. T1 revealed its plans to compete in …
NiP reveals strong new roster for ESL One Los Angeles Major Steven Rondina Dota 2 Changes were expected to come for Ninjas in Pyjamas’ Dota 2 roster ahead of the ESL One Los Angeles Major qualifiers, but the changes to the lineup are surprising. The organization revealed its new lineup, which saw a surprise cut alongside the previously announced release of Nico “Gunnar” Lopez. NiP’s team consists of the following players: Nikita “Daxak” Kuzmin Jason Connor “TANNER” Weedon Rodrigo “Lelis” Santos Saahil “Universe” Arora Peter …
OG just added popular Dota 2 streamer Gorgc to its team Steven Rondina Dota 2 Accomplished Dota 2 organization OG continues to spread its wings across the esports world. During OG Night, OG announced the signing of Janne “Gorgc” Stefanovski. Though there were rumors about him joining OG’s competitive roster, it was revealed that the streamer will instead be joining the organization as a content creator, at least for the time being. This is a big acquisition for OG, which has spent its life to …
Cloud9 reveals new Dota 2 team featuring surprising names Steven Rondina Dota 2 After two years out of Dota 2, Cloud9 has announced its return to the game with an new roster. Following a subtle tease of the news on Twitter, the North American organization has revealed a new international roster. The new Cloud9 roster consists of the following players: Rolen Andrei Gabriel “Skemberlu” Ong Cheng “vtFaded” Jia Hao Rasmus “MISERY” Filipsen Francis “FrancisLee” Lee Johan “pieliedie” Åström “Ever since departing the Dota …
OG unveils new Dota 2 roster ahead of ESL One Los Angeles major Steven Rondina Dota 2 OG revealed its new Dota 2 lineup on OG night. Despite winning back-to-back editions of The International, the roster is undergoing a significant overhaul following the departures of Anathan “ana” Pham, Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka, and Sébastien “Ceb” Debs. The organization announced that those spots will be filled by Syed “SumaiL” Hassan, Martin “Saksa” Sazdov, and Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng. With their signing, OG’s full Dota 2 roster now stands as …
True Sight: The International 2019 shows OG, Liquid in a new way Steven Rondina Dota 2 Valve premiered True Sight: The International 2019 Finals in Berlin, Germany. The documentary that gives fans a deeper look at the grand finals between OG and Team Liquid is now available to watch on YouTube. True Sight: The International 2019 Finals highlighted some of the struggles and drama that was lost to fans who watched the event on Twitch. It featured footage from both backstage team meetings and conversations between …
SumaiL joins OG after months spent on Evil Geniuses bench Steven Rondina Dota 2 Syed “SumaiL” Hassan has a new team. After months in limbo on Evil Geniuses’ bench, former champion has joined OG. The reveal was made after the broadcast of True Sight: The International 2019 Finals, with SumaiL joining the team on the stage after a short video. SumaiL went on to discuss his excitement for joining the team and stated that he is happy to join a team with players more …
OG Night likely to include reveal of new OG Dota 2 roster gabhernandez Dota 2 OG is once again collaborating with Red Bull on a new video project entitled “OG Night”. OG is inviting fans to join the organization in celebrating its past success and discussing its future plans with a talk show that will happen live in Berlin, Germany. OG Night will take place the day after the premiere of True Sight: The International 2019 Finals, a documentary that will give fans a behind-the-scenes …
Ceb leaves OG, new roster likely to be revealed at OG Night Steven Rondina Dota 2 It was already raining for OG. Now it’s pouring. The two-time The International championship organization has lost its third player in four days, with off laner Sébastien “Ceb” Debs stepping down from the roster. This follows OG support Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka retiring from professional Dota 2 and carry Anathan “ana” Pham announcing that he will be taking the season off. “I feel like it’s time for me to find ways …
Dendi announces new B8 org with glimpse into Dota 2’s future Steven Rondina Dota 2 Dota 2 legend Danil “Dendi” Ishutin is looking to make a grand return to Dota 2. The former Natus Vincere mid laner announced the formation of the B8 organization with a strange yet humorous video on YouTube. The video shows an elderly Dendi going fishing with his grandchild with a number of tongue-in-cheek references to his Dota 2 career leading to this point. It also shows what will happen with …
Dota 2 update 7.24 removes shrines, shakes up neutral items Steven Rondina Dota 2 Just an hour after the DreamLeague Leipzig Major ended, Valve released a massive balance update to Dota 2 in version 7.24. The balance update brings a slew of massive changes to the game. In addition to the usual roundup of tweaks to heroes and items, 7.24 changes the map, reimagines outposts, and changes how neutral items function. A number of different mechanics were introduced to shorten games, including increased buyback …
Dota 2 New Bloom returns in 2020 with rejected skins gabhernandez Dota 2 Dota 2 players can celebrate the Lunar New Year with the annual New Bloom event. Valve has added a new rewards line that features in-game decorations, wheel spin gifts, and chat wheel options. Wheel spins can be gifted to Steam friends for a chance to win the Nian courier. The courier is a miniature version of Nian, the Year Beast featured in previous New Bloom events. As usual, wheel spins …
Team Secret outlasts Evil Geniuses in DreamLeague Major finals Steven Rondina Dota 2 Team Secret looked terrifyingly good upon their return to the Dota Pro Circuit at the DreamLeague Leipzig Major. The European team locked up first place at the event with a 3-2 grand finals victory over Evil Geniuses. That nets Team Secret 4,850 Dota Pro Circuit qualifying points and likely guarantees them a direct invitation to The International 2020. Though Evil Geniuses looked like a serious threat at points, Secret was unstoppable …

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.