How A Video Game Became a

Multi-million Dollar Esport

Industry

DotA (Defence of the Ancients), and it's successor Dota 2, is multiplayer online
battle arena (MOBA) video game in which the objective for each team is to destroy the
enemy's team Ancient, a structure that is on the opposite corner of the map, but is guarded
by the confronting team, as well as other structures and AI controlled units. The video
game holds the record for the largest prize pool in eSports history when The International
2017 (TI7) held at the KeyArena in Seattle broke the last year's record set by The
International 2016 (TI6), with over US$24 million prize money for the players ($11 million
for the winning team). Though, what made DotA one of the most popular video games in
the world?

It all originated in 2002 when Kyle Sommer (goes by his alias Eul) released a map
created in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (real-time strategy game developed by Blizzard
Entertainment). The game includes so-called "world editor", which enables players to
design their own scenarios or "maps" for the game, which later can be played with other
players online through Battle.net. Kyle released a map which is based on the scenario
"Aeon of Strife", created in another Blizzard game, StarCraft, with the name Defence of the
Ancients. The new Warcraft's expansion, The Frozen Throne, brought many new features
to the world editor. Various mapmakers used the DotA map and created spinoffs, adding
new features, heroes and items, but the map called DotA Allstars was the most successful
because it contained the most popular heroes of all the other maps. It was originally
developed by Meian and Ragn0r, but in March 2004, the control and development were
given to Stephan Feak (his alias is Guinsoo), joined by Steve Mascon (goes by the alias
Pendragon). Steve Mascon built a forum that was crucial for the community because it
allowed players to congregate, and to provide feedback for the balance of the game.
Guinsoo listened to the players, while also adding his own content. The purpose was to
tweak the balance of the game to perfection, so it would provide equally enjoyable
experience for each player. Meanwhile, Pendragon's forum reached 1.5 million users,
making DotA a unique collaborative project, where many of the players gave their
individual effort in the improvement of the gaming experience. After almost two years of
development by Guinsoo, in 2005 he passed the controls to ambitious modder which goes
by the alias IceFrog (his real name is still unknown to the public), together with Neichus,
who left soon after. IceFrog started the 6.xx series of DotA, which is still developed by him
and Valve. Due to its popularity, DotA Allstars became an important tournament scenario
and was featured in many popular eSports tournaments around the world.

By 2008, DotA Allstars was very successful free game mod, developed and
supported entirely without support from big video game development companies. The
potential to go commercial was very obvious, so DotA-inspired League of Legends was
released in 2009 by Riot Games. It was developed by Riot Games, joined by Guinsoo and
Pendragon, and now it has over 15 million registered accounts. In 2010, S2 Games released
another DotA-inspired game called Heroes of Newerth, and even though it gained some
success, it was unable to dismount League of Legends from the throne.

In October 2010, Valve announced Dota 2, a separate video game that challenges
the likes not only of League of Legends players but DotA Allstars players as well.
Developed by Valve and IceFrog himself, and with the Steam platform behind it as well, it
was clear that it will be the strongest rival League of Legends will face.
Even though Dota 2 wasn't officially released until July 2013, the public beta phase was on
air 2 years prior. The game was praised for the faithfulness to the predecessor and the
overall rewarding gameplay experience and production quality, with some gaming
publications considering it to be one of the greatest video games of all times.
Shortly after the announcement of Dota 2, the first International was announced, a
tournament funded in which 16 teams of the whole world would compete for the grand
prize of $1 million USD. The teams were invited by Valve, and the tournament would serve
as the first public viewing of Dota 2. It took place at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany from
17 to 21 August 2011, and was streamed online in 4 different languages: English, Chinese,
Russian and German. The winner of the first International was the team Natus Vincere
from Ukraine, winning a total prize of $1 million USD, with the runners-up EHOME
winning $250.000 USD.

It was a bold move by Valve which paid off, because their new game became very
popular, even though in beta phase, and it gained widespread and competitive scene, with
players and teams from all around the world competing in various leagues and
tournaments. They are divided into several tiers, and the Premium tournaments often have
prize pools larger than $1 million USD. The biggest of them all is The International, which
became an annual event, held by Valve in KeyArena in Seattle, breaking its own total prize
pool record for 6 years in a row.

In 2013, Valve announced that an interactive compendium would be available for

purchase, which provides detailed information and extended interactivity of The
International 2013 (TI3) for the viewers. Also, a quarter of the revenue would be added to
the prize pool of $1.6 million USD funded by Valve, so the winnings of the participating
teams would be increased. The total prize pool of TI3 was $2,874,381. The International
kept breaking its last year record, so in 2017 the total prize pool of The International 2017
(TI7) was $24,787,916, meaning that each of the 5 players of the winning team won almost
$2.2 million USD, almost as the Wimbledon 2017 winners. Considering that the Dota 2
tournament has only been going for 7 years, it is only a matter of time until TI will become
a bigger business than many world-known sports tournaments held for decades.