Dota 2
Dota 2
The International 2019 groups revealed just hours in advance
Steven Rondina
The International 2019 starts in less than 24 hours, but teams are just now finding out what group they will compete in. Dota 2 community manager Wykhrm Reddy revealed the two groups that teams will compete in for the first phase of TI9. Group A is comprised of Alliance, Chaos Esports Club, Keen Gaming, Mineski, Newbee, PSG.LGD, Team Liquid, Team Secret, and TNC Predator. Group B is comprised of Evil …
Dota 2
With The International 2019, only two players have attended every TI
gabhernandez
It’s hard to make it to the top of the Dota 2 scene, but it’s much harder to stay there. Clement “Puppey” Ivanov and Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi have managed to do that for nine years to this point. The pair of captains are set to become the last two The International All-Timers, competing at every installment of The International in Dota 2’s history. Longtime Dota 2 fans likely need …
Dota 2
Dendi splits from Natus Vincere, now a free agent in Dota 2
Olivia Richman
Danil “Dendi” Ishutin is now a free agent. According to a statement from Natus Vincere, the star player requested early termination of his contract. The organization says they “met his wishes and released him,” and thanked him for his help in developing the Na’Vi brand. “Together with NAVI, I’ve come a long way, with many ups and downs. I’ve made an incredible number of friends, many of whom I’m still in touch …
Dota 2
Dota 2 Summer Scrub update brings big changes before TI9
Steven Rondina
In anticipation of The International 2019, Valve called upon Dota 2 fans to point out some of the small, lingering problems with the game client so they could be remedied. And there were a lot of them. Four weeks after announcing the Summer Scrub, a massive Dota 2 update has arrived fixing dozens of minor bugs and UI issues within the game. Though most of the update tackles more granular …
Dota 2
OG announces new sponsor ahead of The International 2019
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
OG has announced an official partnership with SteelSeries. The gaming peripherals and accessories manufacturer is partnering up with the European squad at the perfect time, with the news coming just a few weeks ahead of OG competing at The International 2019. OG made the reveal on its Facebook page. “It’s a pleasure to once again be working with SteelSeries, their products have been part of my entire life,” OG captain …
Dota 2
Midas Mode receives EG bid to eliminate cliffs, Secret chimes in
gabhernandez
Evil Geniuses has joined in the fun of the Million Dollar Midas Mode project. Evil Geniuses expressed its interest in Sir Sadim’s pre-selling of assets in the Dota 2 map. In a Twitter post, the team offered to buy all cliffs in the upcoming Midas Mode 2 tournament. Evil Geniuses’ conditions include removing all cliffs from the map should the team enter an elimination game. Tournament organizer Jake “SirActionSlacks” Kanner …
Dota 2
Alliance wins Dota Summit 10, gain extra momentum before TI9
Steven Rondina
Alliance made a bold move by signing up for the Dota Summit 10 just weeks before the start of The International 2019, but that move paid off. The European squad took first place at the event, raking in $42,000 for their efforts. More importantly, Alliance looked the part of a legitimate TI9 contender as they skated to first place without much difficulty. Alliance first asserted its dominance in the group …
Dota 2
Dota 2 update 7.22f shakes up balance before The International 2019
Steven Rondina
It seems as though Valve really hated Dota 2’s meta at the Epicenter Major. The third patch between the last major of the 2018-2019 Dota Pro Circuit season and The International 2019 has arrived. Version 7.22f continues the sweeping nerfs of the pro scene’s most popular heroes. Though none of the nerfs are overwhelming on their own, many of the affected heroes took hits in 7.22d and 7.22e as well. …
Study shows Dota 2 has most toxic online gaming community
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Dota 2
A study on harassment in online gaming has been released and the results are exactly what one would expect. Well over half of those who have played popular multiplayer titles have experienced some form of harassment while playing, per the Anti-Defamation League. In a study of 15 games, Dota 2 was found to have possibly the most toxic gaming community of all, with 79% of players responding that they had …
New NiP jersey for The International 2019 draws ire from fans
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Dota 2
Esports organization Ninjas in Pyjamas has been the talk of the community for the past few days, and not for any good reasons. This time, it’s the organization’s new Dota 2 jersey that fans are laughing about. With The International 2019 coming soon, NiP has created a new jersey for its Dota 2 players. And while the design was supposed to represent a storm of fans’ energy and excitement incorporated …
Newbee signs former Forward Gaming lineup for The International 2019
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Newbee is headed to The International 2019, but not in the way one might expect. The Chinese organization revealed the signing of the former Forward Gaming lineup on its Facebook page. The move comes after its standing team failed to clear the Chinese qualifiers. “Newbee and the players, coach and manager of former Forward Gaming have come to an agreement that the team will be representing Newbee, as well as …
Upcoming Dota Underlords buffs revealed by Valve after meta shift
M Alzamora
Dota 2
Valve has confirmed plans to implement new balance changes in Dota Underlords that would address a powerful and polarizing meta shift that occurred as a result of the most recent changes to the game. The official Dota Underlords Twitter account posted about the incoming tweaks. The company comically mentioned Arc Warden four times to tease that it’s almost certainly getting nerfed. Hunters and Primordials will also receive attention this time …
Forward Gaming ceases operations just before The International
M Alzamora
Dota 2
Forward Gaming has announced its immediate closure ahead of the team’s attempt to take home The International’s top prize. The announcement came from CEO David Dashtoyan in a blog post outlining the situation. In it, we learn that financial struggles forced his hand in the decision. There aren’t many hard details available as to where its money has gone, but Forward Gaming is broke and can’t pay player salaries for …
Newbee wins World Cyber Games after failing to reach TI9
gabhernandez
Dota 2
Newbee has had a disastrous season in Dota 2 but they finally did something they can be proud of. Following the team’s exit from The International 2019 China Qualifier, Newbee got a small measure of redemption at the World Cyber Games 2019. Newbee dominated the group stage of the main event, amassing a perfect 7-0 record against teams such as CDEC Gaming, Thunder Predator, and Black Sheep. In the playoffs …
The International 2019 beats $30 million mark for prize pool
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The International 2019 will boast the largest prize pool in esports history. Since the launch of the TI9 battle pass on May 7, the prize pool for the year’s largest Dota 2 tournament has climbed at a rapid pace. That has seen the event reach a major milestone, with the prize pool clearing the $30 million mark to reestablish The International as the richest esports event in the world. What’s …
Dota 2 game abandons happen up to 20 percent of the time in some ranks
gabhernandez
Dota 2
An overwhelming number of players are abandoning Dota 2 games. Gosu.ai is an AI game trainer that helps gamers improve their mechanical skills. It developed an AI assistant that analyzes users’ in-game performance, shows the disparity of skills from each rank, and can compile some data from Dota 2 games. One of those data points is the rate of abandons and, according to Gosu, across over 50 million recorded games …
Dota 2 map put up for sale at next Midas Mode tournament
gabhernandez
Dota 2
Dota 2 meme lovers are hyped up. Midas Mode is coming back in September with Betway Midas Mode and MoonduckTV is exciting fans and partly bankrolling the event with “Sir Sadim’s Revenge,” a liquidation sale of the Dota 2 map and all its heroes. This serves as a donation drive for the event, allowing the community to sponsor different in-game elements through the event’s Indiegogo page. Past Midas Mode events …
The International battle pass briefly features offensive name
William Davis
Dota 2
It isn’t uncommon for esports players to have odd nicknames, but one Dota 2 pro might be taking things a bit too far. A Reddit user recently uploaded a screenshot to the Dota 2 subreddit featuring an opened TI player card which included one of Infamous’ latest additions to their roster, “k1 el cacha viejas de 26.” This roughly translates to “k1 the 26 year old women fucker.” Many other …
The International 2019 Fantasy Challenge goes live in battle pass
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The International 2019’s Fantasy Challenge mini-game is now live. In the most recent Dota 2 update, TI9 player cards were officially unveiled, giving fans the opportunity to open the card packs they have received over recent weeks. As in years past, these cards are used to play the Fantasy Challenge mini-game during The International. Fantasy Dota 2 works very similar to daily fantasy games for traditional sports like football and …
Dota Underlords leak shows 16 new heroes waiting to be added
M Alzamora
Dota 2
With League of Legends’ Teamfight Tactics mode going ranked and a full round of future updates planned, Dota 2 may soon strike back in a big way. As many as 16 new heroes could be coming to Dota Underlords, according to YouTuber Tyler McVicker. McVicker found the information while searching within the patch files for Dota 2’s ProtoPass update. Inside are references to Dota 2 heroes Chen, Clinkz, Dark Seer, …
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.
