Dota 2

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Dota 2
DotA2.jpg
Developer(s) Valve Corporation
Publisher(s) Valve Corporation
Designer(s) IceFrog
Writer(s)
Marc Laidlaw
Ted Kosmatka
Kris Katz
Composer(s)
Jason Hayes
Tim Larkin
Engine Source 2
Platform(s)
Microsoft Windows
Linux
OS X
Release
Windows
July 9, 2013
Linux, OS X
July 18, 2013
Genre(s) MOBA
Mode(s) Multiplayer
Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game developed and
published by Valve Corporation. The game is a sequel to Defense of the Ancients
(DotA), which was a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft
III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion pack, The Frozen Throne. Dota 2 is played in
matches between two teams of five players, with each team occupying and defending
their own separate base on the map. Each of the ten players independently controls
a powerful character, known as a "hero", who all have unique abilities and
differing styles of play. During a match, players collect experience points and
items for their heroes to successfully defeat the opposing team's heroes in player
versus player combat. A team wins by being the first to destroy the other team's
"Ancient", a large structure located within their base.

Development of Dota 2 began in 2009 when IceFrog, lead designer of the original
Defense of the Ancients mod, was hired by Valve to create a modernized remake for
them in the Source game engine. It was officially released for Microsoft Windows,
OS X, and Linux-based personal computers via the digital distribution platform
Steam in July 2013, following a Windows-only open beta phase that began two years
prior. As the game is fully free-to-play with no heroes or other gameplay elements
needing to be bought or otherwise unlocked, revenue is made instead from
microtransactions such as loot boxes, and a battle pass subscription system called
Dota Plus, which all only offer non-gameplay altering virtual goods in return, such
as hero cosmetics and voice-line packs. The game has also been updated with various
other features since release, such as a port to the Source 2 engine and virtual
reality support.

Dota 2 has a large esports scene, with teams from across the world playing in
various professional leagues and tournaments. Valve manages an event format known
as the Dota Pro Circuit, which are a series of tournaments held every year that
award qualification points for getting a direct invitation to The International,
the premier tournament of the game with a prize pool usually totaling over US$20
million. Media coverage of most Dota 2 tournaments is done by a selection of on-
site staff who provide commentary and analysis for the ongoing matches, similar to
traditional sporting events. In addition to playing matches to a live audience in
arenas and stadiums, broadcasts of them are also streamed live over the internet,
and sometimes simulcast on television networks, with peak viewership numbers in the
millions.

Despite some criticism going towards its steep learning curve and overall
complexity, Dota 2 was praised for its rewarding gameplay, production quality, and
faithfulness to its predecessor, with many considering it to be one of the greatest
video games of all time. Since its release, it has been one of the most played
games on Steam, with over a million concurrent players at its peak. The popularity
of the game has led to official merchandise for it being produced, including
apparel, accessories, and toys, as well as promotional tie-ins to other games and
media. The game also allows for the community to create their own gamemodes, maps,
and cosmetics, which are uploaded to the Steam Workshop. Valve have also developed
two other games featuring the setting of Dota 2. The first, Artifact, is a 2018
digital collectible card game, while the second, Dota Underlords, is a 2019 chess-
like game derived from Dota Auto Chess, a popular community-created mod from within
the game. Dota 2 has also been used in machine learning experiments, with a team of
bots known as the OpenAI Five showing the capability to defeat professional
players.

Contents
1 Gameplay
2 Development
2.1 Dota 2 Reborn
3 Release
4 Esports
5 Reception
5.1 Awards
6 Legacy
7 References
8 External links
Gameplay
See also: Mechanics of multiplayer online battle arena games

A game of Dota 2 in progress, showing the Radiant team inside their base at the
beginning of a match
Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game in which two teams of
five players compete to collectively destroy a large structure defended by the
opposing team known as the "Ancient", whilst defending their own.[1][2] As in
Defense of the Ancients, the game is controlled using standard real-time strategy
controls, and is presented on a single map in a three-dimensional isometric
perspective.[1][3] Ten players each control one of the game's 117 playable
characters, known as "heroes", with each having their own design, strengths, and
weaknesses.[1][2][4] Heroes are divided into two primary roles, known as the core
and support.[5][6] Cores, which are also called "carries", begin each match as weak
and vulnerable, but are able to become more powerful later in the game, thus
becoming able to "carry" their team to victory.[7][5] Supports generally lack
abilities that deal heavy damage, instead having ones with more functionality and
utility that provide assistance for their carries, such as providing healing and
other buffs.[8][5][6] Players select their hero during a pre-game drafting phase,
where they can also discuss potential strategies and hero matchups with their
teammates.[2][5][6] Heroes are removed from the drafting pool and become
unavailable for all other players once one is selected, and can not be changed once
the drafting phase is over.

All heroes have a basic damage-dealing attack, in addition to powerful abilities.

Each hero has at least four abilities, all of which are unique, which are the
primary method of fighting.[3][8] Heroes begin each game with an experience level
of one, only having access to one of their abilities, but are able to level up and
become more powerful during the course of the game, up to a maximum level of 25.[2]
[5] Whenever a hero gains an experience level, the player is able to unlock another
of their abilities or improve one already learned.[2][5] The most powerful ability
for each hero is known as their "ultimate", which requires them to have an
experience level of six in order to use.[6] In order to prevent abilities from
being used without consequence, a magic system in the game exists. Activating an
ability costs a hero some of their "mana points", which slowly regenerates over
time.[3][9] Using an ability will also cause it to enter a cooldown phase, in which
the ability can not be used again until a timer counts down to zero. All heroes
have three attributes: strength, intelligence, and agility, which affect health
points, mana points, and attack speed, respectively.[5] Each hero has one primary
attribute out of the three, which adds to their non-ability basic damage output
when increased.[10][5] Heroes also have an ability augmentation system known as
"Talent Trees", which allow players further choices on how to develop their hero.
[5][6] If a hero runs out of health points and dies, they are removed from active
play until a respawn timer counts down to zero, where they are then respawned in
their base.[11]

The two teams�known as the Radiant and Dire�occupy fortified bases in opposite
corners of the map, which is divided in half by a crossable river and connected by
three paths, which are referred to as "lanes".[1][2] The lanes are guarded by
defensive towers that attack any opposing unit who gets within its line of sight.
[2] A small group of weak computer-controlled creatures called "creeps" travel
predefined paths along the lanes and attempt to attack any opposing heroes, creeps,
and buildings in their way.[2][11][6] Creeps periodically spawn throughout the game
in groups from two buildings, called the "barracks", that exist in each lane and
are located within the team's bases.[2][12][6] The map is also permanently covered
for both teams in fog of war, which prevents a team from seeing the opposing team's
heroes and creeps if they are not directly in sight of themselves or an allied
unit. The map also features a day-night cycle, with some hero abilities and other
game mechanics being altered depending on the time of the cycle.[5] Also present on
the map are "neutral creeps" that are hostile to both teams, and reside in marked
locations on the map known as "camps". Camps are located in the area between the
lanes known as the "jungle", which both sides of the map have.[13][6] Neutral
creeps do not attack unless provoked, and will respawn over time if killed. The
most powerful neutral creep is named "Roshan", who is a unique boss that may be
defeated by either team to obtain special items, such as one that allows a one-time
resurrection if the hero that holds it is killed.[2][14][6] Roshan will respawn
around ten minutes after being killed, and becomes progressively harder to kill as
the match progresses over time.[14] "Runes", which are special items that spawn in
set positions on the map every two minutes, offer heroes various temporary, but
powerful power-ups when collected.[5][6]

In addition to having abilities becoming stronger during the game, players are able
to buy items from set locations on the map called shops that provide their own
special abilities.[2][14][15][6] Items are not limited to specific heroes, and can
be bought by anyone. In order to obtain an item, players must be able to afford it
with gold at shops located on the map, which is primarily obtained by killing enemy
heroes, destroying enemy structures, and killing creeps, with the latter being an
act called "farming".[2][11][5] Only the hero that lands the killing blow on a
creep obtains gold from it, an act called "last hitting", but all allies receive a
share of gold when an enemy hero dies close to them.[3][11] Players are also able
to "deny" allied units and structures by last hitting them, which then prevents
their opponents from getting full experience from them.[11][14] Gold can not be
shared between teammates, with each player having their own independent stash.
Players also receive a continuous, but small stream of gold over the course of a
match.[16][5] Multiple game types in the game exist, which mainly alter the way
hero selection is handled; examples include "All Pick", which offer no restrictions
on hero selection, "All Random", which randomly assigns a hero for each player,
"Captain's Mode", where a single player on each team selects heroes for their
entire team and is primarily used for professional play, and "Turbo", an expedited
version of All Pick featuring increased gold and experience gain, weaker towers,
and faster respawn times.[17][18][19] Matches usually last around 30 minutes or
more, although they can theoretically last forever as long as both Ancients remain
standing.[6][20] In Captain's Mode games, an additional "GG" forfeit feature is
available to end games early.[21]

Dota 2 also occasionally features limited-time events that present players with
alternative game modes that do not follow the game's standard rules.[22] Some of
these included the Halloween-themed Diretide event,[23] the Christmas-themed
Frostivus event,[24] and the New Bloom Festival, which celebrated the coming of
spring.[25] Other special game modes have also been created by Valve, including a
ten-versus-ten mode,[26] a Halloween-themed capture point mode "Colosseum",[27] a
combat arena mode "Overthrow",[28] "Siltbreaker", a story-driven cooperative
campaign mode,[29] and "The Underhollow", a battle royale mode.[30] The move to the
Source 2 engine in 2015 also added the "Arcade" feature, which allows for
community-created game modes, with the more popular ones having dedicated server
hosting by Valve.[31][32] One popular example, known as Dota Auto Chess, had over
seven million in-game subscribers by April 2019.[33][34][35] Due to its popularity,
Valve met with the mod's developers, the Chinese-based Drodo Studio, to discuss
directly collaborating on a standalone version. However, the two companies were
unable to come to an agreement, with them both stating that it was in their best
interest to develop their own separate games.[36] While Valve's version, Dota
Underlords, continued to use the Dota setting, Drodo's game, Auto Chess, was
developed without using any Dota 2 assets.[37][38]

Development
See also: List of video games derived from mods

Defense of the Ancients, the original mod from Warcraft III that Dota 2 was based
on
The Dota series began in 2003 with Defense of the Ancients (DotA)�a mod for
Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos�created by the pseudonymous
designer "Eul".[39] An expansion pack for Warcraft III, titled The Frozen Throne,
was released later that year; a series of Defense of the Ancients clone mods for
the new game competed for popularity. DotA: Allstars by Steve Feak was the most
successful,[40] and Feak, with his friend Steve Mescon, created the official
Defense of the Ancients community website and the holding company DotA-Allstars,
LLC.[41] When Feak retired from DotA: Allstars in 2005, a friend, under the
pseudonym "IceFrog", became its lead designer.[42] By the late 2000s, Defense of
the Ancients became one of the most popular mods in the world, as well as a
prominent esports title.[43] IceFrog and Mescon later had a falling out in May
2009, which prompted the former to establish a new community website at
playdota.com.[44] Valve's interest in the Defense of the Ancients property began
when several veteran employees, including Team Fortress 2 designer Robin Walker and
executive Erik Johnson, became fans of the mod and wanted to build a modern sequel.
[45] The company corresponded with IceFrog by email about his long-term plans for
the project,[46] and he was subsequently hired to direct a sequel.[47] IceFrog
first announced his new position through his blog in October 2009,[48] with Dota 2
being officially announced a year later.[49]

Valve adopted the word "Dota", derived from the original mod's acronym, as the name
for its newly acquired franchise. Johnson argued that the word referred to a
concept, and was not an acronym.[47] Shortly after the announcement of Dota 2,
Valve filed a trademark claim to the Dota name.[50] At Gamescom 2011, company
president Gabe Newell explained that the trademark was needed to develop a sequel
with the already-identifiable brand.[51] Holding the Dota name to be a community
asset, Feak and Mescon filed an opposing trademark for "DOTA" on behalf of DotA-
Allstars, LLC (then a subsidiary of Riot Games) in August 2010.[41] Rob Pardo, the
executive vice president of Blizzard Entertainment at the time, similarly stated
that the DotA name belonged to the mod's community. Blizzard acquired DotA-
Allstars, LLC from Riot Games and filed an opposition against Valve in November
2011, citing Blizzard's ownership of both the Warcraft III World Editor and DotA-
Allstars, LLC as proper claims to the franchise.[52] The dispute was settled in May
2012, with Valve retaining commercial franchising rights to the "Dota" intellectual
property, while allowing non-commercial use of the name by third-parties.[53] In
2017, Valve's ownership of it was again challenged, after a 2004 internet forum
post from Eul was brought to light by a Chinese company known as uCool, who had
released a mobile game in 2014 that used characters from the Dota universe.[54]
uCool, who was previously involved in a lawsuit with Blizzard in 2015 for similar
reasons,[55] along with another Chinese company, Lilith Games, argued that the
forum post invalidated any ownership claims of the intellectual property, stating
that the Dota property was an open-source, collective work that could not be
copyrighted by anyone in particular.[54][56] Judge Charles R. Breyer denied uCool's
motion for summary dismissal.[54][57] In March 2018, Blizzard filed motions to
dismiss all claims against uCool and Lilith with prejudice.[58]

An early goal of the Dota 2 team was the adaptation of Defense of the Ancients's
aesthetic style for the Source engine.[49] The Radiant and Dire factions replaced
the Sentinel and Scourge from the mod, respectively. Character names, abilities,
items and map design from the mod were largely retained, with some changes due to
trademarks owned by Blizzard. In the first Q&A session regarding Dota 2, IceFrog
explained that the game would build upon the mod without making significant changes
to its core.[47] Valve contracted major contributors from the Defense of the
Ancients community, including Eul and artist Kendrick Lim, to assist with the
sequel.[59] Additional contributions from sources outside of Valve were also sought
regularly for Dota 2, as to continue Defense of the Ancients's tradition of
community-sourced development.[60] One of the composers of Warcraft III: Reign of
Chaos, Jason Hayes, was hired to collaborate with Tim Larkin to write the original
score for the game, which was conducted by Timothy Williams and performed and
recorded by the Northwest Sinfonia at Bastyr University.[61][62] Valve had Half-
Life series writer Marc Laidlaw, science fiction author Ted Kosmatka, and Steam
support employee Kris Katz write new dialog and background lore for the heroes.[63]
[64] Notable voice actors for heroes include Nolan North, Dave Fennoy, Jon St.
John, Ellen McLain, Fred Tatasciore, Merle Dandridge, Jen Taylor, and John Patrick
Lowrie.[65]

The Source engine itself was updated with new features to accommodate Dota 2, such
as high-end cloth modeling and improved global lighting.[49] The game features
Steam integration, which provides its social component and cloud storage for
personal settings. In November 2013, Valve introduced a coaching system that allows
experienced players to tutor newer players with in-game tools.[66] As with previous
Valve multiplayer games, players are able to spectate live matches of Dota 2 played
by others,[66] and local area network (LAN) multiplayer support allows for local
competitions.[67][68] Some of these events may be spectated via the purchase of
tickets from the "Dota Store", which give players in-game access to matches. Ticket
fees are apportioned in part to tournament organizers.[69] The game also features
an in-game fantasy sports system, which is modeled after traditional fantasy sports
and feature professional Dota 2 players and teams.[70] Players are also able to
spectate games in virtual reality (VR) with up to 15 others, which was added in an
update in July 2016.[71] The update also added a hero showcase mode, which allows
players to see all of the heroes and their cosmetics full-size in virtual reality.
[72]

As part of a plan to develop Dota 2 into a social network, Newell announced in

April 2012 that the game would be free-to-play, and that community contributions
would be a cornerstone feature.[73] Instead, revenue is generated through the "Dota
Store", which offers for-purchase cosmetic virtual goods, such as custom armor and
weapons for their heroes.[74] It was also announced that the full roster of heroes
would be available at launch for free.[75] Until the game's official release in
2013, players were able to purchase an early access bundle, which included a
digital copy of Dota 2 and several cosmetic items.[76] Included as optional
downloadable content (DLC), the Dota 2 Workshop Tools are a set of Source 2
software development kit (SDK) tools that allow content creators to create new
cosmetics for the heroes themselves, as well as custom game modes, maps, and bot
scripts.[77][78][79] Highly rated cosmetics, through the Steam Workshop, are
available in the in-game store if they are accepted by Valve. This model was
fashioned after Valve's Team Fortress 2, which had earned Workshop designers of
cosmetic items of that game over $3.5 million by June 2011.[75] Newell revealed
that the average Steam Workshop contributor for Dota 2 and Team Fortess 2 made
approximately $15,000 from their creations in 2013.[80] By 2015, sales of Dota 2
virtual goods had earned Valve over $238 million in revenue, according to the
digital game market research group SuperData.[81] In 2016, Valve introduced the
"Custom Game Pass" option for creators of custom game modes, which allows them to
be funded by way of microtransactions by adding exclusive features, content, and
other changes to their game mode for players who buy it.[82]

Dota 2 includes a seasonal Elo rating-based matchmaking system, which is measured

by a numerical value known as "matchmaking rating" (MMR) that is tracked separately
for core and support roles, and ranked into different tiers. MMR is updated based
on if a player won or lost, which will then increase or decrease respectively.[83]
The game's servers, known as the "Game Coordinator",[84][85] attempts to balance
both teams based on each player's MMR, with each team having roughly a 50% chance
to win in any given game.[83] Ranked game modes with a separately tracked MMR are
also available, which primarily differ from unranked games by making MMR publicly
visible, as well as requiring the registration of a phone number to their accounts,
which help foster a more competitive environment.[83][86] To ensure that each
player's ranking is up to date and accurate, MMR is recalibrated around every six
months.[87][88] Players with the highest possible medal rank are listed by Valve on
an online leaderboard, separated into North American, European, Southeast Asian,
and Chinese regions.[89] The game also includes a report system, which allows
players to punish player behavior that intentionally provides a negative
experience.[90] Players who get reported enough or leave a number of games before
they have finished, a practice known in-game as "abandoning", are then placed into
"low priority" matchmaking, which remains on a player's account until they win a
specific number of games, and only groups them with other players who also have the
same punishment.[91][92] Other features include an improved replay system from
Defense of the Ancients, in which a completed game can be downloaded in-client and
viewed by anyone at a later time, and the "hero builds" feature, which provide
integrated guides created by the community that highlight to the player on how to
play their hero.[93]

Dota 2 Reborn
In June 2015, Valve announced that the entirety of Dota 2 would be ported over to
their Source 2 game engine in an update called Dota 2 Reborn.[94] Reborn was first
released as an opt-in beta update that same month,[95] and officially replaced the
original client in September 2015, making it the first game to use the engine.[96]
Reborn included a new user interface framework design, ability for custom game
modes created by the community, and the full replacement of the original Source
engine with Source 2.[97] Largely attributed to technical difficulties players
experienced with the update, the global player base experienced a sharp drop of
approximately sixteen percent the month following the release of it.[98] However,
after various updates and patches, over a million concurrent players were playing
again by the beginning of 2016, with that number being the largest in nearly a
year.[99] The move to Source 2 also allowed the use of the Vulkan graphics API,
which was released as an optional feature in May 2016, making Dota 2 one of the
first games to offer it.[100]

Release

Gamescom 2011 in Cologne, where the game was first made playable to the public
Dota 2 was first made available to the public at Gamescom in 2011, coinciding with
the inaugural International championship, the game's premier esport tournament
event. At the event, Valve began sending out closed beta invitations to DotA
players and attendees for the Microsoft Windows version of the game.[101] Although
the game was originally meant to publicly release in 2012, Valve later scrapped
that plan as it would have kept the game in its closed beta state for over a year.
Due to that, Valve lifted the non-disclosure agreement and transitioned the game
into open beta in September 2011, allowing players to discuss the game and their
experiences publicly.[102][103]

Following nearly two years of beta testing, Dota 2 was officially released on Steam
for Windows on July 9, 2013, and for OS X and Linux on July 18, 2013.[104][105]
[106] The game did not launch with every hero from Defense of the Ancients.
Instead, the missing ones were added in various post-release updates, with the
final one, as well as the first Dota 2 original hero, being added in 2016.[107]
[108] Two months following the game's release, Newell claimed that updates to Dota
2 generated up to three percent of global internet traffic.[109] In December 2013,
the final restrictions against unlimited global access to Dota 2 were lifted after
the game's infrastructure and servers were substantially bolstered.[110] In order
to abide by the standards set by the economic legislation of specific countries,
Valve opted to contract with nationally based developers for publishing. In October
2012, Chinese game publisher Perfect World announced they had received distribution
rights for the game in the country.[111] The Chinese client also has a region-
specific "Low Violence" mode, which censors and changes most depictions of blood,
gore, and skulls in order for the game to follow censorship policies of the
country.[112][113] In November 2012, a similar publishing deal was made with the
South Korea-based game company Nexon to distribute and market the game in the
country, as well as in Japan.[114] Three years later, Nexon announced they would no
longer be operating servers for Dota 2, with Valve taking over direct distribution
and marketing of the game in those regions.[115]

In December 2016, Dota 2 was updated to gameplay version 7.00, also known as "The
New Journey" update.[116][117][118] Prior to the update, the Dota series had been
in version 6.xx for over a decade, marking the first major revision since IceFrog
originally took over development of the original mod in the mid 2000s.[118] The New
Journey update added and changed numerous features and mechanics of the game,
including adding the first original hero not ported over from Defense of the
Ancients, a reworked map, a redesigned HUD, a pre-game phase that allows for
players to discuss their team strategy, and a "Talent Tree" hero augmentation
system.[117][118] In April 2017, Valve announced changes to the game's ranked
matchmaking system, with the main one requiring the registration of a unique phone
number to a player's account in order to play them, an anti-griefing and smurfing
practice they had previously implemented in their first-person shooter game,
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.[86][119] Further changes to the game's
matchmaking were brought in an update in November 2017, where the old numerical MMR
system was replaced by a seasonal one based on eight ranked "medals" that are
recalibrated around every six months, a move that brought the game's ranked system
closer to ones used in other competitive games such as Global Offensive, StarCraft,
and League of Legends.[120][121][122]

In early 2018, IceFrog announced that he and Valve would begin on a different way
to handle gameplay balance updates for the game. Instead of releasing larger
updates irregularly throughout the year, smaller ones would be released on a set
schedule of every two weeks.[123][124] Around the same time, the game also
introduced the "Dota Plus" monthly subscription system that replaced the seasonal
battle passes that were released to coincide with a Major tournament. In addition
to offering everything battle passes previously did, Dota Plus added new features
such as a hero-specific achievement system that reward players who complete them
with exclusive cosmetics, as well as providing hero and game analytics and
statistics gathered from thousands of recent games.[125]

Esports

The largest Dota 2 tournaments often have prize pools totaling millions of dollars.
Shown here is The International 2018, which was a $25 million tournament hosted at
the Rogers Arena in Vancouver.
To ensure that enough Defense of the Ancients players would take up Dota 2 and to
promote the game to a new audience, Valve invited sixteen accomplished Defense of
the Ancients esports teams to compete at a Dota 2-specific tournament at Gamescom
in August 2011, which later became an annually held event known as The
International.[126] From The International 2013 onward, its prize pool was allowed
to be crowdfunded through a type of optional in-game battle pass called the
"Compendium", which raises money from players buying them and connected lootboxes
to get exclusive in-game cosmetics and other bonuses offered through them.[127]
[128] 25% of all the revenue made from Compendiums go directly to the prize pool,
with sales from the 2013 battle pass raising over US$2.8 million, which made it the
largest prize pool in esports history at the time.[129][130] Each iteration of The
International since then has surpassed the previous one's prize pool, with the most
recent one, The International 2018, having one at over $25 million.[131]

During its beta phase in the early 2010s, several other esport events would begin
hosting Dota 2 events, including the Electronic Sports World Cup,[132] DreamHack,
[133] World Cyber Games,[134] and ESL.[135] By the end of 2011, Dota 2 was already
one of the highest-paying esport games, second only to StarCraft II.[136] At E3
2013, South Korean company Nexon announced the investment of ?2 billion
(approximately US$1.7 million) into local leagues in the country, which coincided
with their distribution partnership with Valve for the game.[137] In February 2015,
Valve sponsored Dota 2 Asia Championships was held in Shanghai with a prize pool of
over $3 million, raised through compendium sales.[138][139] Since then, other Dota
2 Asia Championships have taken place, with it being sometimes being referred to as
the "Chinese International".[140][141] In total, professional Dota 2 tournaments
had earned teams and players over $100 million by June 2017, with over half of that
being awarded at the International tournaments, making it the highest earning
esport game by a margin of nearly $60 million.[142]

As with traditional sporting events, most major Dota 2 events feature pre- and
post-game discussion by a panel of analysts (left), with in-match casting being
done by play-by-play and color commentators (right).
From late 2015 until early 2017, Valve sponsored a series of smaller-scale,
seasonally held tournaments known as the Dota Major Championships, which all had
fixed prize pools of US$3 million.[143][144] Their format was based on the
tournament series of the same name that Valve also sponsored for their first-person
shooter game, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Including The International 2016
and 2017, which were considered to be the cumulative Major of their respective
seasons,[143][145] the series had five other events, which were the Frankfurt
Major,[146] Shanghai Major,[147] Manila Major,[148] Boston Major,[149] and Kiev
Major.[150] Following the International 2017, the Majors were replaced with the
Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) format due to criticism by teams and fans for Valve's non-
transparent and unpredictable nature for handing out International invitations.
[151][152][153] In the DPC, teams are awarded qualification points for their
performance in sponsored tournaments, with the top twelve earning direct invites to
that season's International.[154] To avoid conflicting dates with other
tournaments, Valve directly manages the scheduling of them.[153]

The primary medium for professional Dota 2 coverage is through the video game live
streaming platform, Twitch.tv. For most major events, tournament coverage is done
by a selection of dedicated esports organizations and personnel who provide on-site
commentary, analysis, match predictions, and player interviews surrounding the
event in progress, similar to traditional sporting events.[155][156] Live Dota 2
games and coverage have also been simulcast on television networks around the
world, such as ESPN in the United States,[157][158] BBC Three in the United
Kingdom,[159] Sport1 in Germany,[160] TV 2 Zulu in Denmark,[161] Xinwen Lianbo in
China,[162] Astro in Malaysia,[163] and TV5 in the Philippines.[164]

Reception
Reception
Aggregate score
Aggregator Score
Metacritic 90/100[165]
Review scores
Publication Score
Destructoid 9.5/10[166]
Edge 9/10[167]
Eurogamer 9/10[168]
Game Informer 9/10[16]
GameSpot 9/10[169]
IGN 9.4/10[170]
PC Gamer (US) 92/100[172]
Polygon 8.5/10[171]
USgamer 5/5 stars[173]
VideoGamer.com 9/10[174]
Dota 2 received "universal acclaim" according to review aggregator Metacritic,[165]
and has been listed by multiple publications as one of the greatest video games of
all time.[175][176][177][178] In a preview of the game in 2012, Rich McCormick of
PC Gamer thought that Dota 2 was "an unbelievably deep and complex game that offers
the purest sequel to the original Defense of the Ancients. Rewarding like few
others, but tough".[179] Adam Biessener, the editor who authored the announcement
article for Dota 2 for Game Informer in 2010, praised Valve for maintaining the
same mechanics and game balance that made Defense of the Ancients successful nearly
a decade prior[16] and Quintin Smith of Eurogamer described Dota 2 as the "supreme
form of the MOBA which everyone else working in the genre is trying to capture like
lightning in a bottle".[168] The most frequently praised aspects of the game were
its depth, delivery, and overall balance. Chris Thursten of PC Gamer described the
gameplay as being "deep and rewarding".[172]

Martin Gaston of GameSpot complimented Valve for the artistic design and delivery
of Dota 2, citing the execution of the user interface design, voice acting, and
characterization as exceeding those of the game's competitors.[169] Phill Cameron
of IGN and James Kozanitis of Hardcore Gamer both praised Dota 2 for its free-to-
play business model that was not affected by cosmetic items, with Kozanitis stating
that Dota 2 was "the only game to do free-to-play right".[170][180] Nick Kolan of
IGN also agreed, comparing the game's business model to Valve's Team Fortress 2,
which uses a nearly identical system.[181] Post-release additions to the game were
also praised, such as the addition of virtual reality (VR) support in 2016. Ben
Kuchera of Polygon thought that spectating games in VR was "amazing", comparing it
to being able to watch an American football game on television with the ability to
jump onto the field at any time to see the quarterback's point of view.[182] Chris
Thursten of PC Gamer agreed, calling the experience "incredible" and unlike any
other esports spectating system that existed prior to it.[183] Sam Machkovech of
Ars Technica also praised the addition, believing that the functionality could
"attract serious attention from gamers and non-gamers alike".[184]

While the majority of reviewers gave Dota 2 highly positive reviews, a common
criticism was that the game maintains a steep learning curve that requires
exceptional commitment to overcome. While providing a moderately positive review
that praised Valve's product stability, Fredrik �slund from the Swedish division of
Gamereactor described his first match of Dota 2 as one of the most humiliating and
inhospitable experiences of his gaming career, citing the learning curve and
players' attitudes as unwelcoming.[185] Benjamin Danneberg of GameStar alluded to
the learning curve as a "learning cliff", calling the newcomer's experience to be
painful, with the tutorial feature new to the Dota franchise only being partially
successful.[186] In a review for the Metro newspaper, Dota 2 was criticized for not
compensating for the flaws with the learning curve from Defense of the Ancients, as
well as the sometimes hostile community, which is commonly criticized in
multiplayer online battle arena games.[187] Peter Bright of Ars Technica also
directed criticism at the ability for third-party websites to allow skin gambling
and betting on match results, similar to controversies that also existed with
Valve's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.[188] Using Dota 2 as an example, Bright
thought that Valve had built gambling elements directly into their games, and had
issues with the unregulated practice, which he said was often used by underage
players and regions where gambling is illegal.[188] Australian senator Nick
Xenophon had similar sentiment, stating that he wanted to introduce legislation in
his country to minimize underage access to gambling within video games, including
Dota 2.[189] In response to the controversy, Valve and Dota 2 project manager, Erik
Johnson, stated that they would be taking action against the third-party sites as
the practice was not allowed by their user agreements or API.[190]

Comparisons of Dota 2 to other MOBA games are commonplace, with the game's
mechanics and business model often being directly compared with League of Legends
and Heroes of the Storm.[181][191][192][193] Contrasting it with League of Legends,
T.J. Hafer of PC Gamer called Dota 2 the "superior experience", stating that he
thought the game was "all about counterplay", with most of the heroes being
designed to directly counter another.[194] Hafer also preferred the way the game
handled its hero selection pool, with all of them being unlocked right from the
start, unlike in League of Legends.[194] Comparing Dota 2 to Heroes of the Storm,
Jason Parker of CNET said that while Heroes of the Storm was easier to get into,
the complexities and depth of Dota 2 would be appreciated more by those who put in
the time to master it.[195] Further comparing it to Heroes of Newerth, players from
the professional Dota 2 team OG said that most Heroes of Newerth players were able
to transition over easily to the game, due to the strong similarities that both
games share.[196] Similar to other highly competitive online games, Dota 2 is often
considered to have a hostile and "toxic" community.[197][198][199] In 2019, a
report by the Anti-Defamation League found that up to 79% of the game's playerbase
had reported being harassed in some way while playing the game, which topped their
list.[200]

Awards
Following its reveal in 2011, Dota 2 won IGN's People's Choice Award.[201] In
December 2012, PC Gamer listed Dota 2 as a nominee for their Game of the Year
award, as well as the best esports game of the year.[202] In 2013, Dota 2 won the
esport game of the year award from PC Gamer[203] and onGamers.[204] GameTrailers
also awarded the game the award for Best PC Game of 2013,[205] with IGN also
awarding it the Best PC Strategy & Tactics Game, Best PC Multiplayer Game, and
People's Choice Award.[206][207] Similarly, Game Informer recognized Dota 2 for the
categories of Best PC Exclusive, Best Competitive Multiplayer and Best Strategy of
2013.[208] The same year, Dota 2 was nominated for a number of Game of the Year
awards by Destructoid, including the award for the best competitive game. While the
staff selected StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, Dota 2 received the majority of
the votes distributed between the nine nominees.[209] Dota 2 was later nominated
for the best multiplayer game at the 10th British Academy Games Awards in 2014, but
lost to Grand Theft Auto V,[210] and was nominated for Esports Game of the Year at
The Game Awards at its 2015, 2016, and 2017 events,[211][212][213] while winning
the award for best MOBA at the 2015 Global Game Awards.[214] The game was also
nominated for the community created "Love/Hate Relationship" award at the inaugural
Steam Awards in 2016.[215] Through 2017�2018, the game was nominated for Choice
Video Game at the 2017 Teen Choice Awards,[216] for Esports Game of the Year at the
Golden Joystick Awards and National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards,
[217][218][219][220] and as IGN's best spectator game.[221]

Legacy

A fan cosplaying as Juggernaut, one of the game's 117 playable characters

A month prior to its official launch, Dota 2 was already the most played game on
Steam with a concurrent player count of nearly 330,000, which outweighed the number
of players for the rest of platform's top ten most-played games combined.[222][223]
[224] It remained as the most played game by concurrent players on the platform for
four years,[225][226] having a peak of over one million and never dropping below
first place for any extended period of time until being surpassed by
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds in 2017.[227][228][229] Viewership and followings of
professional Dota 2 leagues and tournaments are also popular, with peak viewership
numbers of some events reaching upwards in the millions.[230][231][232] Some Asian
schools and universities, such as the Asia Pacific University of Technology &
Innovation in Malaysia, have held courses on Dota 2, teaching students the
fundamentals and core skills to use during the game.[233][234] Dota 2 has also been
a part of traditional multi-sport events, such as under the esports category of the
2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.[235]

The Aegis of Champions

The popularity of Dota 2 led Valve to produce apparel, accessories, figurines, and
a number of other products featuring the heroes and other elements from the game.
In addition, Valve secured licensing contracts with third-party producers; the
first of these deals concerned a Dota 2 themed SteelSeries mousepad, which was
announced alongside the game at Gamescom 2011.[236] In September 2012, Weta
Workshop, the prop studio that creates the "Aegis of Champions" trophy for winners
of The International,[237] announced a product line that would include statues,
weapons, and armor based on Dota 2 characters and items.[238] In February 2013, the
National Entertainment Collectibles Association announced a new toy line featuring
hero-themed action figures at the American International Toy Fair.[239] At Gamescom
2015, an HTC Vive virtual reality (VR) tech demo based around the shopkeeper of the
game's item shop was showcased, allowing participants to interact with various
items and objects from the game in VR.[240] The demo, known as Secret Shop, was
later included the following year on The Lab, Valve's virtual reality compilation
game.[241] After the conclusion of The International 2015, Valve awarded the
Collector's Aegis of Champions, a brass replica of the Aegis of Champions award
trophy, to those with compendiums of 1,000 levels or more.[242] Valve awarded the
Collector's Aegis again the following year for The International 2016, as well as
selling a limited edition Dota 2 themed HTC Vive virtual reality headset during the
event.[243][244] In July 2017, an 18-track official soundtrack was released by
Ipecac Recordings, including a version on vinyl.[245] A digital collectible card
game designed by Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield and Valve, titled
Artifact, was released for PC-platforms in November 2018, and is planned for iOS
and Android devices sometime in 2019.[246][247][248][249]

Promotional tie-ins to other video games and media have been added to Dota 2 since
release, including custom Half-Life 2,[250] Bastion,[250] Portal,[251] The Stanley
Parable,[252] Rick and Morty,[253] Fallout 4,[254] Deus Ex: Mankind Divided,[255]
and Darkest Dungeon[256] announcer packs, which replace the game's default
announcer with ones based on those franchises. In addition to announcer packs,
well-known musical artists have written music packs that can replace the game's
default soundtrack, such as electronic music artist deadmau5 and Singaporean
songwriter JJ Lin.[257][258][259] To coincide with the Windows release of Square
Enix's Final Fantasy Type-0 HD in August 2015, a bundle containing a custom loading
screen, a Moogle ward, and a Chocobo courier were added the same month.[260] In
April 2016, Valve announced a cross-promotional workshop contest for Sega's Total
War: Warhammer, with the winning entries being included in the game later that
year.[261] In 2017, a cosmetic set based on the Companion Cube from the Portal
series was released as part of that year's International battle pass for the hero
known as "Io".[262] In December of the same year, the character Amaterasu from
Capcom's Okami was included as a courier for those who had pre-ordered the PC
release of the game.[263]

Physical props, based on items from the game, being sold as merchandise at The
International 2012
A documentary on the game and its professional scene was produced by Valve and
released in March 2014. Known as Free to Play, the film follows three players
during their time at the first International in 2011.[264] American basketball
player Jeremy Lin, who was a media sensation at the time, had a guest appearance in
the film, where he called the game "a way of life".[265] Lin later compared the
game and the professional gaming scene in general to basketball and other
traditional sporting events, saying that there was not much of a difference between
the two,[266] while also comparing various NBA all-stars, such as Stephen Curry,
Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James, to different heroes in the game.[267] Starting in
2016, Valve began producing an episodic documentary series titled True Sight, a
spiritual successor to Free to Play.[268] The first three episodes followed the
professional teams Evil Geniuses and Fnatic during the Boston Major tournament in
late 2016.[268] Three more episodes were released over the next two years, focusing
on the grand finals of the Kiev Major, The International 2017, and The
International 2018.[269][270][271] Valve have also endorsed cosplay competitions
featuring the game's heroes, which take place during downtime at some Dota 2
tournaments and feature prize pools of their own.[272][273][274] Creation of Dota
2-themed animations and CGI videos, mostly created by the community with Source
Filmmaker, also take place.[275] Similar to the cosplay competitions, Valve holds
short film contests every year at The International, with winners of the
competition also being awarded prize money.[276][277] In addition, Valve have
created free webcomics featuring some of the heroes, further detailing their
background lore.[278][279][280] A physical collection of the comics was released as
Dota 2: The Comic Collection by Dark Horse Comics in August 2017.[281]

Dota 2 has also been used in machine learning experiments, with the American
artificial intelligence research company OpenAI curating a system, known as the
OpenAI Five, that allows bots to learn how to play the game at a high skill level
entirely through trial-and-error algorithms. The bots learn over time by playing
against itself hundreds a times a day for months in a system that OpenAI calls
"reinforcement learning", in which they are rewarded for actions such as killing an
enemy and destroying towers.[282][283][284][285] Demonstrations of the bots playing
against professional players have occurred at a number of events, such as Dendi, a
professional Ukrainian player of the game, losing to one of them in a live 1v1
matchup at The International 2017.[286][287] A year later, the ability of the bots
had increased to work together as a full team of five, known as the OpenAI Five,
who then played and won against a team of semi-professional players in a
demonstration game in August 2018.[288] Shortly after, OpenAI Five then played two
live games against more skilled players at The International 2018.[289][290]
Although the bots lost both games, OpenAI considered it a successful venture by
stating that playing against some of the best players in Dota 2 allowed them to
analyze and adjust their algorithms for future games.[291]