Dota 2
Dota 2
Empire, Thunder Predator, Detonator among BTS Spring Cup winners
gabhernandez
Team Empire, Thunder Predator, and Detonator emerged victorious in the conclusion of Beyond the Summit Spring Cup Series. BTS Spring Cup is an online tournament that took place in three different regions. Four teams from Southeast Asia, the Americas, and Europe were directly invited to compete for the $20,000 prize pool. In the Southeast Asia region, Filipino team Detonator faced Tigers in the grand final. Dota 2 legend Danil “Dendi” …
Dota 2
Dota 2 star ana returns to OG, fills out championship roster
Olivia Richman
Dota 2 star Anathan “ana” Pham is back from his break. OG announced on Twitter that the carry player has returned. The accompanying video started off with tweets from fans expressing how much they wanted ana to come back. This may be just what the Dota 2 needs to rise back to the top. A break from Dota 2 ana played a major role in OG taking home the Aegis …
Dota 2
OG boots iLTW off active roster, plans to announce new carry
Steven Rondina
OG once again finds itself without a carry player. The team announced on its Facebook page that it is parting ways with Igor “iLTW” Filatov. He returns to the roster of Espada, where he was loaned from. OG has been struggling to find a carry player since the departure of Anathan “ana” Pham in November. Though he helped the team hoist the Aegis of Champions at The International 2018 in …
Dota 2
TNC Predator defeats Keen Gaming to win WESG 2019
gabhernandez
TNC Predator finished off a dominating run at the World Electronic Sports Games tournament despite a recent roster shakeup. Carlo “Kuku” Palad was banned from attending the tournament in Chongqing, while former captain Michael “ninjaboogie” Ross Jr. had departed from the team. To complete its WESG lineup, TNC Predator had to bring in on loan Marc Polo Luis “Raven” Fausto and Nico “eyyou” Barcelon from Lotac. The Filipino team proved …
Dota 2
Former Evil Geniuses carry Mason joins SA team Infamous
Steven Rondina
Veteran Dota 2 player Mason “mason” Venne has a new home. The North American journeyman is packing his bags and heading south to join Peruvian esports organization Infamous. The announcement was made by the team on Twitter. Mason is likely a familiar name for any longtime Dota 2 fan. Best known for his 2014 stint with Evil Geniuses that included a third-place performance at The International, he has periodically popped …
Dota 2
A Dota 2 major is coming to Disneyland Paris in May
Steven Rondina
The fourth Dota 2 major of the season is now official, and it’s headed to Europe. After weeks of rumors, the Paris Major has been announced by Mars Media. The event is set to be a special one, as it will take place at Disneyland Paris rather than a traditional studio or arena. The Paris Major will begin on May 4 and will run through May 12. The tournament will …
Dota 2
WePlay issues apology for false DMCA claim against Dota 2 caster
Olivia Richman
Forward Gaming has recanted their decision to not participate in any WePlay! tournaments after the organization issued a public apology. Forward Gaming had previously announced that they needed WePlay! to publish a formal apology to the public after WePlay issued a DMCA claim against Dota 2 caster Roman Vladimirovich “CaspeRRR” Lepokhin and other RuHub casters streaming the IEM Katowice Major on their personal channels. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act was …
Dota 2
New hero Mars has arrived in Dota 2
Steven Rondina
After months of waiting, mysterious Dota 2 hero Mars has arrived. Though the new addition comes later than its original release window, the character has dropped in Dota 2 after a prolonged silence on its status from Valve. Mars is a strength-based melee character that will likely be used in the carry position, though he also has the tools to function as a bulky initiator. He owns a unique set …
Dota Auto Chess patch introduces new heroes, deals with hackers
Olivia Richman
Dota 2
As Dota Auto Chess continues to gain popularity, developers Drodo Studio delivered three new heroes in the game’s latest patch. The new chess pieces are Riki the Satyr Assassin, Mirana the Elf Hunter, and the Undead Warlock known as Death Prophet. Many current heroes received some reworking, including Alchemist, whose Acid Spray was replaced with Chemical Rage. Similarly, Slark’s Shadow Dance was exchanged for Pounce. The addition of Riki introduces …
Dota 2 hits 1 million concurrent players for first time since 2017
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Dota 2 is trending upwards. According to Steampowered.com, the popular MOBA peaked at over 1 million concurrent players on March 2. This is the first time the game’s concurrent player count has hit seven figures since February 2017. Dota 2 has enjoyed a serious upswing in popularity in recent months. After hitting its all-time peak in 2016, the game’s player base has trended steadily downwards for years despite occasional spikes …
KheZu and Vega Squadron disband after rocky results
Steven Rondina
News
Vega Squadron once again finds itself without a Dota 2 team. Following a string of failed qualifier attempts and poor results in tournaments, the European team is disbanding. The news was announced by Petu “Peksu” Vaatainen on Twitter. Initially a stack of European journeymen that competed as Team Lithium, the team was signed to Vega Squadron in November following the release of its previous CIS team led by Semion “CemaTheSlayer” …
Dota 2 pros are crazy for Apex Legends, even during event drafts
gabhernandez
News
The Apex Legends hype has caught up to some of the best Dota 2 players in the world. The battle royale game was released in February and was an instant hit. The free-to-play game was downloaded 25 million times in its first week and seems poised to contest Fortnite’s dominance in the battle royale space. Now joining the growing action are Dota 2 pros Vladimir “No[o]ne” Minenko and Pavel “9pasha” …
Team Secret crush all comers at ESL One Katowice
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Team Secret continues its run atop the Dota 2 world. The squad led by Clement “Puppey” Ivanov hoisted yet another trophy at ESL One Katowice, capping a strong run in the tournament with a 3-0 win over Gambit Esports. The win puts more wind at the back of the European squad, which is arguably the best team in Dota 2 right now. Opening the event with six-team round robin group …
Valve considers official involvement with Dota Auto Chess
Olivia Richman
Dota 2
The success of Dota Auto Chess has gained Valve’s attention. The developer has begun contemplating making the successful Dota 2 mod into an official Valve title. Valve is currently brainstorming how it can offer support and development to Drodo Studio. Dota Auto Chess has been gaining popularity at an exponential rate. The game currently has more than 4.4 million subscribers, 400,000 of those gained in just four days. Esports pros …
Sumail out, CCnC in for Evil Geniuses in Macau
gabhernandez
Dota 2
Evil Geniuses will participate in the upcoming Mars Dota 2 League Macau without the team’s star mid laner. For the second time, Quinn “CC&C” Callahan will replace Syed Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan in a tournament outside of the Dota Pro Circuit participated by Evil Geniuses. CC&C played as a stand-in for the team at ESL One Hamburg in October 2018, joining EG in a fifth place finish. The North American powerhouse …
Nerfs to Io, Lich, and Keeper of the Light arrive with Dota 7.21b
gabhernandez
Dota 2
Valve has released a new Dota 2 patch bringing some interesting tweaks to popular heroes. While the 7.21 patch brought in a new ranking system and its own hero changes, 7.21b provides small tweaks to bring further balance to the game. Several nerfs and buffs have been delivered to different heroes in the current meta. The patch also delivered an increase in experience points from denied creeps, boosted from 25% …
Team Liquid make official rmN as new Dota 2 coach
Jared Wynne
Dota 2
German Dota 2 player Roman “rmN-” Paley has been announced as the new coach of Team Liquid. rmN is a known name in the competitive Dota 2 scene, where he left his biggest mark representing such teams as PENTA eSports, Natus Vincere and Elements Pro Gaming. The German pro plays the support position, and is well-known for his excellent play on Io. rmN does have some history with the former …
Torte De Lini brings end to popular Dota 2 hero build guides
gabhernandez
Dota 2
The top hero build guide creator in Dota 2 has officially ended his long-running project. Michael “Torte De Lini” Cohen is the famed creator for his Dota 2 Hero Builds Project. This has long been recognized as one of the most helpful resources for Dota 2 players. Torte De Lini started the initiative in 2013, providing players with potential item builds for every hero in the complex MOBA. He has …
WESG confirms Chinese government ban of Dota player Kuku
gabhernandez
Dota 2
Implications continue to unfurl following TNC Predator captain Carlo “Kuku” Palad’s involvement in a racial controversy last year. Kuku is in the middle of another career shakeup following his use of a racial slur in a public Dota 2 game. The slur and the ensuing controversy resulted in a ban from the Chongqing Major. Kuku took a break from the professional scene following the scandal. After the Chongqing Major, he …
EG, PSG.LGD, Liquid among DreamLeague major qualifiers
gabhernandez
Dota 2
With the season’s third Dota 2 major only a few weeks away, the event’s coveted slots are being filled out by the world’s strongest teams. Forward Gaming and Flying Penguins both had strong starts in the group stage of the North American qualifier for DreamLeague Season 11. Each team won two series without dropping a single game. During the playoffs, Forward Gaming faced regional powerhouse Evil Geniuses in a best-of-three …
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.
