Jump to content

Dota 2

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Extended-protected article
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Dota2)

Dota 2
Three characters, one masked, one in gladiator armor, and one riding a cat-like mount, are shown with a tower in the background and the game's logo in the foreground.
Developer(s)Valve
Publisher(s)Valve
Designer(s)IceFrog
Writer(s)
Composer(s)
SeriesDota
EngineSource 2[a]
Platform(s)
Release
  • Windows
  • July 9, 2013
  • Linux, OS X
  • July 18, 2013
Genre(s)MOBA
Mode(s)Multiplayer

Dota 2 is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve. The game is a sequel to Defense of the Ancients (DotA), a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. 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 character known as a hero that has unique abilities and differing styles of play. During a match, players collect experience points (XP) and items for their heroes to defeat the opposing team's heroes in player versus player (PvP) combat. A team wins by being the first to destroy the other team's Ancient, a large durable structure located in the center of each base.

Development of Dota 2 began in 2009 when IceFrog, lead designer of Defense of the Ancients, was hired by Valve to design a modernized remake in the Source game engine. It was released for Windows, OS X, and Linux via the digital distribution platform Steam in July 2013, following a Windows-only open beta phase that began two years prior. The game is fully free-to-play with no heroes or any other gameplay element needing to be bought or otherwise unlocked. To maintain it, Valve supports the game as a service, selling loot boxes and a battle pass subscription system called Dota Plus that offer non-gameplay altering virtual goods in return, such as hero cosmetics and audio replacement packs. The game was ported to the Source 2 engine in 2015, making it the first game to use it.

Dota 2 has a large esports scene, with teams from around the world playing in various professional leagues and tournaments. Valve organizes the Dota Pro Circuit, which are a series of tournaments that award qualification points for earning direct invitations to The International, the game's premier tournament held annually. Internationals feature a crowdfunded prize money system that has seen amounts in upwards of US$40 million, making Dota 2 one of the most lucrative esports. Media coverage of most 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 live to audiences in arenas and stadiums, broadcasts of them are also streamed over the internet and sometimes simulcast on television, with several million in viewership numbers.

Despite 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. It has been one of the most played games on Steam since its release, with over a million concurrent players at its peak. The popularity of the game has led to merchandise and media adaptations, including comic books and an anime series, as well as promotional tie-ins to other games and media. The game allows for the community to create their own gamemodes, maps, and cosmetics, which are uploaded to the Steam Workshop. Two spinoff games, Artifact and Dota Underlords, were released by Valve. Dota 2 has been used in machine learning experiments, with a team of bots known as the OpenAI Five showing the capability to defeat professional players.

Gameplay

See also: Mechanics of multiplayer online battle arena games

Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game in which two teams of five players compete to 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 125 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]

A game of Dota 2 in progress, showing the Radiant team inside their base at the beginning of a match

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.[5][7] Supports generally lack abilities that deal heavy damage, instead having ones with more functionality and utility that provide assistance for their cores, such as providing healing and other buffs.[5][6][8] Players select their hero during a pre-game drafting phase, where they can 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 attack in addition to powerful abilities, which are the primary method of fighting. Each hero has at least four of them, all of which are unique.[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 30.[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 overused, a magic system is featured in the game. 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 period, in which the ability can not be used again until a timer resets. All heroes have three attributes: strength, intelligence, and agility, which affect health points, mana points, and attack speed, respectively.[5] Each hero has a primary attribute which adds to their basic non-ability damage output and other minor buffs—with four attributes including Universal, which rewards extra damage for attribute points.[5][10][11] Heroes have an ability augmentation system known as the "Talent Tree", which allow players more 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 timer counts down to zero, where they are respawned in their base with only some gold lost.[12]

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][6][12] 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][6][13] The map is 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 features a day-night cycle, with some hero abilities and other game mechanics being altered depending on the time of the cycle.[5] 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.[6][14]

Neutral creeps do not attack unless provoked, and 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][6][15] Roshan will respawn around ten minutes after being killed, and becomes progressively harder to kill as the match progresses over time.[15] Runes, which are special items that spawn in set positions on the map every few minutes, offer heroes temporary, but powerful power-ups when collected, such as double damage and invisibility.[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][6][15][16] 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][5][12] 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][12] Players are able to "deny" allied units and structures by last hitting them, which then prevents their opponents from getting full experience from them.[12][15] Gold can not be shared between teammates, with each player having their own independent stash. Players receive a continuous, but small stream of gold over the course of a match.[5][17]

Dota 2 features multiple game types 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.[18][19][20] Matches usually last around 30 minutes to an hour, although they can last forever as long as both Ancients remain standing.[6][21] In Captain's Mode games, an additional "GG" forfeit feature is available to end games early.[22] Dota 2 occasionally features limited-time events that present players with alternative game modes that do not follow the game's standard rules.[23] Some of these included the Halloween-themed Diretide event,[24] the Christmas-themed Frostivus event,[25] and the New Bloom Festival, which celebrated the coming of spring.[26] Other special game modes have been created by Valve, including a ten-versus-ten mode,[27] a Halloween-themed capture point mode "Colosseum",[28] a combat arena mode "Overthrow",[29] "Siltbreaker", a story-driven cooperative campaign mode,[30] and "The Underhollow", a battle royale mode.[31]

The move to the Source 2 engine in 2015 added the "Arcade" feature, which allows for community-created game modes, with the more popular ones having dedicated server hosting by Valve.[32][33] One popular example, known as Dota Auto Chess, had over seven million in-game subscribers by April 2019.[34][35][36] Owing 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.[37] Valve's version, Dota Underlords, was released in February 2020 and continued to use the Dota setting,[38] while Drodo's game, Auto Chess, was developed using no Dota 2 assets.[39][40]

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".[41] An expansion pack for Warcraft III, 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,[42] and Feak, with his friend Steve Mescon, created the official Defense of the Ancients community website and the holding company DotA-Allstars, LLC.[43] When Feak retired from DotA: Allstars in 2005, a fellow website user under the pseudonym IceFrog, became its lead designer.[44] By the late 2000s, Defense of the Ancients became one of the most popular mods worldwide, as well as a prominent esports game.[45] IceFrog and Mescon later had a falling out in May 2009, which prompted the former to establish a new community website at playdota.com.[46] Rob Pardo, the executive vice president of Blizzard Entertainment at the time, stated that the company had discussed with IceFrog in person the possibility of developing a MOBA but that they felt they were not ready to commit to such an endeavor.[47] Valve's interest in the Dota intellectual 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.[48] The company corresponded with IceFrog by email about his long-term plans for the project,[49] and he was subsequently hired to design a sequel.[50] IceFrog announced his new position through his blog in October 2009,[51] with Dota 2 being announced a year later.[52]

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.[50] Shortly after the announcement of Dota 2, Valve filed a trademark claim to the Dota name.[53] At Gamescom 2011, company president Gabe Newell explained that the trademark was needed to develop a sequel with the already-identifiable brand.[54] 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.[43] Rob Pardo 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 name.[55] The dispute was settled in May 2012, with Valve retaining commercial rights to the Dota trademark, while allowing non-commercial use of the name by third-parties.[56] In 2017, Valve's ownership of the franchise 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.[57] uCool, who was previously involved in a lawsuit with Blizzard in 2015 for similar reasons,[58] 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.[57][59] Judge Charles R. Breyer denied uCool's motion for summary dismissal, with Blizzard filing motions to dismiss all claims against uCool and Lilith with prejudice.[57][60][61]

An early goal of the Dota 2 team was the adaptation of Defense of the Ancients' aesthetic style for the Source engine.[52] 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.[50] Valve hired Eul and contracted major contributors from the Defense of the Ancients community, including artist Kendrick Lim, to assist with the sequel.[62] Additional contributions from sources outside of Valve were also sought regularly for Dota 2, as to continue Defense of the Ancients' tradition of community-sourced development.[63] 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.[64][65] Valve had Half-Life series writer Marc Laidlaw, science fiction author Ted Kosmatka, and other employees contributed hero dialog and lore.[66][67] 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, among others.[68]

The Source engine was updated with new features to accommodate Dota 2, such as high-end cloth modeling and improved global lighting.[52] 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.[69] As with previous Valve multiplayer games, players are able to spectate live matches of Dota 2 played by others,[69] and local area network (LAN) multiplayer support allows for local competitions.[70][71] 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.[72] The game features an in-game fantasy sports system, which is modeled after traditional fantasy sports and feature professional Dota 2 players and teams.[73] Players are able to spectate games in virtual reality (VR) with up to 15 others, which was added in an update in July 2016.[74] The update added a hero showcase mode, which allows players to see all of the heroes and their cosmetics full-size in virtual reality.[75]

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.[76] Instead, revenue is generated through the "Dota Store", which offers for-purchase cosmetic virtual goods, such as custom armor and weapons for their heroes.[77] It was announced that the full roster of heroes would be available at launch for free.[78] Until the game's release in 2013, players were able to purchase an early access bundle, which included a digital copy of Dota 2 and several cosmetic items.[79] 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 hero cosmetics, as well as custom game modes, maps, and bot scripts.[80][81][82] 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.[78] Newell revealed that the average Steam Workshop contributor for Dota 2 and Team Fortress 2 made approximately $15,000 from their creations in 2013.[83] 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.[84] 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.[85]

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.[86] MMR is updated based on if a player won or lost, which will then increase or decrease respectively.[87] The game's servers, known as the "Game Coordinator",[88][89] 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.[87] 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.[87][90] To ensure that each player's ranking is up to date and accurate, MMR is recalibrated around every six months.[91][92] 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.[93] The game includes a report system, which allows players to punish player behavior that intentionally provides a negative experience.[94] Players who get reported enough or leave several games before they conclude, a practice known as "abandoning", are 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 have the same punishment.[95][96] 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.[97]

Dota 2 Reborn

In June 2015, Valve announced that Dota 2 would be ported over to their Source 2 game engine in an update called Dota 2 Reborn.[98] Reborn was released as an opt-in beta update that same month,[99] and replaced the original client in September 2015, making it the first game to use the engine.[100] 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.[101] 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 its release.[102] 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.[103] The move to Source 2 allowed the use of the Vulkan graphics API, released as an optional feature in May 2016, making Dota 2 one of the first games to use it.[104]

Release

Gamescom 2011 in Cologne, where the game was first made playable to the public

Dota 2 was 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.[105] 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. Owing 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.[106][107]

Following nearly two years of beta testing, Dota 2 was released on Steam for Windows on July 9, 2013, and for OS X and Linux on July 18, 2013.[108][109][110] 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.[111][112] Two months following the game's release, Newell claimed that updates to Dota 2 generated up to three percent of global internet traffic.[113] 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.[114] 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.[115] The Chinese client has a region-specific "Low Violence" mode, which removes most depictions of blood, gore, and skulls in order for the game to follow censorship policies of the country.[116][117] 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.[118] 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.[119]

In December 2016, Dota 2 was updated to gameplay version 7.00, also known as "The New Journey" update.[120][121][122] 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.[122] 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" ability augmentation system.[121][122] 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.[90][123] 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 tiers 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.[124][125][86]

For most of 2018, Valve decided to handle gameplay balance updates for the game in a different way. Instead of releasing larger updates irregularly throughout the year, smaller ones would be released on a set schedule of every two weeks.[126][127] Around the same time, the game 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 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.[128]

Esports

The largest Dota 2 tournaments often have prize pools totaling millions of dollars. Shown here is The International 2018, 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.[129] From The International 2013 onward, its prize pool began to be crowdfunded through a type of 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.[130][131] 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.[132][133] From 2015 until 2021, each iteration of the International surpassed the previous one's prize pool, with The International 2021 peaking at $40 million.[134][135]

During its beta phase in the early 2010s several other esport events would begin hosting Dota 2 events, including the Electronic Sports World Cup,[136] DreamHack,[137] World Cyber Games,[138] and ESL.[139] By the end of 2011, Dota 2 was already one of the highest-paying esport games, second to StarCraft II.[140] 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.[141] In February 2015, Valve sponsored and held the Dota 2 Asia Championships in Shanghai, with a prize pool of over $3 million raised through compendium sales.[142][143] 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 Internationals, making it the highest earning esport game by a margin of nearly $60 million at the time.[144]

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.[145][146] 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,[145][147] the series had five other events, which were the Frankfurt Major,[148] Shanghai Major,[149] Manila Major,[150] Boston Major,[151] and Kiev Major.[152] 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.[153][154][155] 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.[156] To avoid conflicting dates with other tournaments, Valve directly manages the scheduling of them.[155]

The primary medium for professional Dota 2 coverage is the live streaming platform Twitch. For most major events, tournament coverage is done by a selection of dedicated esports organizations and personnel who provide on-site commentary, analysis, and player interviews, similar to traditional sporting events.[157][158] Coverage of Dota 2 tournaments have been simulcast on television networks, such as ESPN in the United States,[159][160] BBC Three in the United Kingdom,[161] Sport1 in Germany,[162] TV 2 Zulu in Denmark,[163] Xinwen Lianbo in China,[164] Astro in Malaysia,[165] and TV5 in the Philippines.[166]

Reception

Dota 2 received "universal acclaim" according to review aggregator Metacritic,[167] and has been cited as one of the greatest video games of all time.[177][178][179][180] 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."[181] 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[17] 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".[170] 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".[174]

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.[171] Phill Cameron of IGN and James Kozanitis of Hardcore Gamer both praised Dota 2 for its free-to-play business model including only cosmetic items in contrast to other games such as League of Legends, which charges to unlock better "heroes" to play as, with Kozanitis stating that Dota 2 was "the only game to do free-to-play right".[172][182] Nick Kolan of IGN agreed, comparing the game's business model to Valve's Team Fortress 2, which uses a nearly identical system.[183] Post-release additions to the game were 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.[184] Chris Thursten of PC Gamer agreed, calling the experience "incredible" and unlike any other esports spectating system that existed prior to it.[185] Sam Machkovech of Ars Technica also praised the addition, believing that the functionality could "attract serious attention from gamers and non-gamers alike".[186]

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 Åslund 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.[187] Benjamin Danneberg of GameStar alluded to the learning curve as a "learning cliff", calling the newcomer's experience painful, with the tutorial feature new to the Dota franchise only being partially successful.[188] In a review for Metro, Dota 2 was criticized for not compensating for the flaws with the learning curve from Defense of the Ancients, as well as the often hostile community.[189] 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.[190] 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.[190] 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.[191] 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.[192]

Comparisons of Dota 2 to other MOBA games are commonplace, with the mechanics and business model compared to League of Legends and Heroes of the Storm.[183][193][194][195] 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.[196] 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.[196] 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.[197] 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.[198] Similar to other highly competitive online games, Dota 2 is often considered to have a hostile and "toxic" community.[199][200][201] 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 it, which topped their list.[202]

Awards

Following its reveal in 2011, Dota 2 won IGN's People's Choice Award.[203] 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.[204] In 2013, Dota 2 won the esport game of the year award from PC Gamer[205] and onGamers.[206] GameTrailers also awarded the game the award for Best PC Game of 2013,[207] with IGN also awarding it the Best PC Strategy & Tactics Game, Best PC Multiplayer Game, and People's Choice Award.[208][209] Similarly, Game Informer recognized Dota 2 for the categories of Best PC Exclusive, Best Competitive Multiplayer and Best Strategy of 2013.[210] The same year, Dota 2 was nominated for several awards by Destructoid. While the staff selected StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, Dota 2 received the majority of the votes distributed between the nine nominees.[211] During the 17th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Dota 2 for "Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year".[212] 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,[213] and was nominated for Esports Game of the Year at The Game Awards at its events from 2015 to 2019,[214][215][216][217] while winning the award for best MOBA at the 2015 Global Game Awards.[218] The game was also nominated for the community created "Love/Hate Relationship" award at the inaugural Steam Awards in 2016.[219] In the late 2010s, the game was nominated for Choice Video Game at the 2017 Teen Choice Awards,[220] for Esports Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards,[221][222][223][224] and as IGN's best spectator game.[225]

Legacy

A fan cosplaying as Juggernaut, one of the game's 125 playable characters

A month prior to its 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.[226][227][228] It remained as the most played game by concurrent players on the platform for four years,[229][230] 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.[231][232][233] Viewership and followings of professional Dota 2 leagues and tournaments are popular, with peak viewership numbers of the International in the millions.[234][235][236] Some Asian schools and universities, such as the Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation in Malaysia, have held courses teaching students the fundamentals and core skills to use for the game.[237][238] Dota 2 has been a part of multi-sport events in Asia, such as the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games and Southeast Asian Games.[239][240]

The Aegis of Champions, awarded to International winners

The popularity of Dota 2 led Valve to produce apparel, accessories, figurines, and several 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.[241] In September 2012, Wētā Workshop, the prop studio that creates the "Aegis of Champions" trophy for winners of The International,[242] announced a product line that would include statues, weapons, and armor based on characters and items from the game.[243] In February 2013, the National Entertainment Collectibles Association announced a new toy line featuring hero-themed action figures at the American International Toy Fair.[244] 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.[245] The demo, known as Secret Shop, was later included the following year on The Lab, Valve's virtual reality compilation game.[246] 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.[247] 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.[248][249] In July 2017, an 18-track music soundtrack was released by Ipecac Recordings, including a version on vinyl.[250] A digital collectible card game based on the universe of Dota 2 and designed by Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield and Valve, Artifact, was released in November 2018.[251][252][253]

Promotional tie-ins to other video games and media have been added to Dota 2, including custom Half-Life 2,[254] Bastion,[254] Portal,[255] The Stanley Parable,[256] Rick and Morty,[257] Fallout 4,[258] Deus Ex: Mankind Divided,[259] and Darkest Dungeon[260] announcer packs, which replace the game's default announcer with ones based on those franchises. In addition to announcer packs, 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.[261][262][263] 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.[264] 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.[265] 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".[266] In December of the same year, the character Amaterasu from Capcom's Ōkami was included as a courier for those who had pre-ordered the PC release of the game.[267]

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.[268] American basketball player Jeremy Lin, who was a media sensation at the time, had a guest appearance in the film and called the game "a way of life".[269] Lin later compared the game and the esports scene in general to basketball and other traditional sporting events, saying that there was not much of a difference between the two,[270] while comparing various NBA all-stars, such as Stephen Curry, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James, to different heroes in the game.[271] Starting in 2016, Valve began producing an episodic documentary series titled True Sight, a spiritual successor to Free to Play.[272] The first three episodes followed the professional teams Evil Geniuses and Fnatic during the Boston Major tournament in late 2016.[272] Several more episodes have since been produced.[273][274] 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.[275][276][277] Creation of Dota 2-themed animations and CGI videos, mostly created by the community with Source Filmmaker, also take place.[278] 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.[279][280] In addition, Valve have created free webcomics featuring some of the heroes, further detailing their background lore.[281][282][283] A physical collection of the comics was released as Dota 2: The Comic Collection by Dark Horse Comics in August 2017.[284] An anime streaming television series based on the game, Dota: Dragon's Blood, premiered on Netflix in March 2021.[285] The series was produced by Studio Mir and Kaiju Boulevard.

Dota 2 has 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.[286][287][288][289] Demonstrations of the bots playing against professional players have occurred at some 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.[290][291] 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.[292] Shortly after, OpenAI Five then played two live games against more skilled players at The International 2018.[293][294] Although the bots lost both games, OpenAI considered it successful as playing the bots against some of the best players in Dota 2 allowed them to analyze and adjust their algorithms for future games.[295] In 2019, OpenAI Five was able to defeat the reigning International champion OG.[296]

Notes

  1. ^ Source prior to September 2015

References

  1. ^ a b c d McDonald, Tim (July 25, 2013). "A Beginner's Guide to Dota 2: Part One – The Basics". PC Invasion. Archived from the original on August 11, 2016. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l This Is Dota (Video). YouTube. dota2. August 4, 2015. Archived from the original on March 4, 2018. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d Kim, Ben (July 9, 2013). "A comprehensive comparison of Dota 2 and League of Legends". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on August 1, 2016. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
  4. ^ "Heroes". dota2.com. Valve. Archived from the original on August 3, 2017. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Gies, Arthur (August 2, 2017). "The Normal Person's Guide to Watching Competitive Dota 2 (2017 Edition)". Polygon. Archived from the original on August 3, 2017. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rose, Victoria (August 22, 2018). "The Flying Courier's newcomer guide to watching Dota 2". The Flying Courier. Polygon. Archived from the original on August 27, 2018. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
  7. ^ Dota Roles - Hard Carry (Video). YouTube. dota2. August 6, 2015. Archived from the original on March 4, 2018. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  8. ^ a b McDonald, Tim (August 3, 2013). "A Beginner's Guide to Dota 2: Part Two – The Heroes". PC Invasion. Archived from the original on August 12, 2016. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  9. ^ McDonald, Tim (August 4, 2013). "A Beginner's Guide to Dota 2: Part 2.5 – The Heroes (Continued)". PC Invasion. Archived from the original on July 20, 2016. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  10. ^ Kolan, Nick (September 16, 2011). "The Heroes of Dota 2". IGN. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012.
  11. ^ Lakin, Samuel (April 21, 2023). "Dota 2 receives a huge update in New Frontiers". Gamereactor. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
  12. ^ a b c d e Bartel, Joe (January 14, 2016). "The unique strategy of Dota 2". ESPN. Archived from the original on July 11, 2016. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  13. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (August 19, 2011). "Dota 2 – Preview". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on November 13, 2012.
  14. ^ Dator, James (July 19, 2014). "What are The International Dota 2 Championships?". SB Nation. Archived from the original on August 6, 2017.
  15. ^ a b c d Leahy, Brian (November 8, 2012). "Surviving the basics of DOTA 2". Joystiq. Archived from the original on July 30, 2013. Retrieved July 25, 2013.
  16. ^ "Items". dota2.com. Archived from the original on July 6, 2017. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
  17. ^ a b c Biessener, Adam (July 16, 2013). "Dota 2". Game Informer. Archived from the original on July 18, 2013.
  18. ^ "Game Modes". IGN. December 13, 2011. Archived from the original on May 19, 2017. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  19. ^ Thursten, Chris (October 22, 2015). "Why Dota 2's All Random mode is good for the soul". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on August 3, 2017. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  20. ^ Warr, Philippa (November 6, 2017). "Dota 2 Turbo mode is the best thing Valve has added to the game in years". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on March 2, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
  21. ^ Van Allen, Eric (April 7, 2017). "Dota Match Turns Into Five-Hour Melodrama". Kotaku. Archived from the original on August 3, 2017. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  22. ^ Gies, Arthur (August 2, 2017). "The Normal Person's Guide to Watching Competitive Dota 2 (2017 Edition)". Polygon. Archived from the original on December 12, 2017. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  23. ^ Savage, Phil (January 27, 2014). "Dota 2's New Bloom heralds the arrival of the Year Beast, also Terrorblade". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on March 22, 2014. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
  24. ^ Albert, Brian (November 8, 2013). "Dota 2 'Diretide' Event Coming in Next Update". IGN. Archived from the original on March 22, 2014. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
  25. ^ "Dota 2's Frostivus 2013 event unveiled for the holidays". GameSpot. December 10, 2013. Archived from the original on March 20, 2014. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
  26. ^ Savage, Phil (December 20, 2013). "Dota 2's next update will be the Year of the Horse, Valve request Workshop submissions". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on March 22, 2014. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
  27. ^ Dyer, Mitch (August 7, 2015). "20-Player Dota 2 Mode Revealed". IGN. Archived from the original on February 10, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
  28. ^ "Enter the Haunted Colosseum". Dota 2 Blog. Archived from the original on November 10, 2015. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
  29. ^ "The best Dota 2 custom games". PCGamesN. August 5, 2016. Archived from the original on December 20, 2017. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
  30. ^ Plunkett, Luke (May 5, 2017). "DOTA 2 Is Getting A Co-op Campaign With A Story". Kotaku. Archived from the original on May 30, 2017. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
  31. ^ Stewart, Sam (May 8, 2018). "Dota 2 Is Getting a Battle Royale Game Mode". IGN. Archived from the original on May 9, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  32. ^ "Dota 2 - Reborn: Custom Games". Dota 2. Archived from the original on November 10, 2015. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
  33. ^ "The best Dota 2 custom games". PCGamesN. August 5, 2016. Archived from the original on December 2, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  34. ^ Bolding, Jonathan (January 13, 2019). "A Dota 2 custom mode may be 2019's most popular new game". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on January 22, 2019. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
  35. ^ Warr, Philippa (February 8, 2019). "Dota Auto Chess: The joyful deck-based Dota 2 game that Artifact isn't". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on February 8, 2019. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
  36. ^ Sullivan, Lucas (April 12, 2019). "The skyrocketing rise of Auto Chess, a Dota 2 custom map that became one of the year's biggest games". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on April 12, 2019. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  37. ^ Grayson, Nathan (May 20, 2019). "Valve Is Making Its Own Version Of Dota Auto Chess". Kotaku. Archived from the original on May 22, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  38. ^ O'Connor, Alice (February 25, 2020). "Dota Underlords rises out of early access today". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Archived from the original on February 25, 2020. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  39. ^ Gilliam, Ryan (June 10, 2019). "Auto Chess creators bringing stand-alone game to PC later this year". Polygon. Archived from the original on June 11, 2019. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
  40. ^ McWhertor, Michael (June 13, 2019). "Valve's Auto Chess competitor is Dota Underlords". Polygon. Archived from the original on June 13, 2019. Retrieved June 13, 2019.
  41. ^ Tok, Kevin (January 25, 2006). "Defense of the Ancients 101". GotFrag. Archived from the original on June 24, 2009. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  42. ^ "Vida: El top 5". El Universo (in Spanish). February 18, 2008. Archived from the original on June 14, 2009. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  43. ^ a b Augustine, Josh (August 17, 2010). "Riot Games' dev counter-files "DotA" trademark". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on February 3, 2013.
  44. ^ Feak, Steve; Mescon, Steve (March 19, 2009). "Postmortem: Defense of the Ancients". Gamasutra. pp. 1–5. Archived from the original on December 7, 2010. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  45. ^ Walbridge, Michael (June 12, 2008). "Analysis: Defense of the Ancients – An Underground Revolution". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on October 13, 2012.
  46. ^ IceFrog (May 14, 2009). "IceFrog.com: DotA Website News". PlayDotA.com. Archived from the original on January 8, 2014. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  47. ^ Johnson, Soren (December 11, 2014). "Designer Notes Episode 2" (Podcast). Idle Thumbs. Event occurs at 1:35:35. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
  48. ^ Nutt, Christian (August 29, 2011). "The Valve Way: Gabe Newell And Erik Johnson Speak". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on October 26, 2016. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  49. ^ DOTA 2 – Gamescom 2011 Interview (PC) (Video). YouTube. August 19, 2011. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved September 16, 2013.
  50. ^ a b c Onyett, Charles (January 8, 2011). "Valve's Next Game". IGN. Archived from the original on November 9, 2012.
  51. ^ IceFrog (October 5, 2009). "Great News For DotA Fans". PlayDotA.com. Archived from the original on July 23, 2012.
  52. ^ a b c Biessener, Adam (October 13, 2010). "Valve's New Game Announced, Detailed: Dota 2". Game Informer. Archived from the original on August 19, 2012.
  53. ^ Funk, John (October 13, 2010). "Valve Files Trademark for ... DotA?". The Escapist. Archived from the original on October 10, 2012.
  54. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (August 22, 2011). "Dota trademark: Blizzard, Valve respond". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on October 24, 2012.
  55. ^ Plunkett, Luke (February 10, 2012). "Blizzard and Valve go to War Over DOTA Name". Kotaku. Archived from the original on June 4, 2012.
  56. ^ Reilly, Jim (May 11, 2012). "Valve, Blizzard Reach DOTA Trademark Agreement". Game Informer. Archived from the original on July 24, 2012.
  57. ^ a b c McAloon, Alissa (May 22, 2017). "Valve's ownership of Dota 2 is set to be decided by a jury". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on June 3, 2017. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  58. ^ Nutt, Christian (March 24, 2015). "Blizzard sues a studio that's suing a studio". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on June 1, 2017. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  59. ^ Orland, Kyle (May 17, 2017). "Does Valve really own Dota? A jury will decide". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on May 21, 2017. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
  60. ^ Kelly, Jennifer Lloyd; Plassaras, Nicholas A.; Tung, Chieh (January 4, 2018). "Crowdsourced Content in Video Games: How Ownership Issues Almost "Ganked" a Copyright Case | Lexology". lexology.com. Archived from the original on July 10, 2018. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  61. ^ Witcoff, Banner (July 30, 2019). "Heroes Charge into Copyright Battle". Lexology. Archived from the original on December 1, 2020. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
  62. ^ Dagostino, Francesco (August 31, 2011). "DOTA 2: How Valve Turned From Fanboys Into Developers For This Game". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2013. Retrieved March 3, 2013.
  63. ^ IceFrog (November 1, 2010). "Dota 2 Q&A". Dota 2 Official Blog. Valve. Archived from the original on October 10, 2012.
  64. ^ Napolitano, Jayson (August 23, 2011). "Composer Jason Hayes joins audio team at Valve". Destructoid. Archived from the original on July 10, 2012.
  65. ^ Dota 2 recording session (Video). YouTube. Archived from the original on March 21, 2017. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
  66. ^ "Interview: Marc Laidlaw, writer of Half-Life and DOTA2". showmethegames.com. Archived from the original on July 29, 2016. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  67. ^ England, Jason (November 23, 2012). "Interview With Marc Laidlaw: The Writer Of Half-Life". New Rising Media. Archived from the original on July 10, 2016. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  68. ^ Valve (July 9, 2013). Dota 2 (Windows). Valve. Scene: Acknowledgements.
  69. ^ a b Gaston, Martin (November 14, 2013). "Huge Dota 2 patch brings two new heroes and Diretide". GameSpot. Archived from the original on November 15, 2013. Retrieved November 15, 2013.
  70. ^ Carlson, Patrick (September 20, 2013). "Dota 2 First Blood update adds local network play and new mode, goes live September 23". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
  71. ^ Senior, Tom (February 15, 2012). "Dota 2 will support LAN play, next International tournament prize pool to be "at least" $1.6m". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on December 10, 2012.
  72. ^ Wilkinson, Jeremy (June 21, 2012). "Valve to reinforce competitive play". The Escapist. Archived from the original on March 3, 2013. Retrieved March 3, 2013.
  73. ^ "The International Compendium Evolves". Dota 2. Archived from the original on March 8, 2016. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  74. ^ "Dota 2 fans now able to watch games via VR". BBC News. July 29, 2016. Archived from the original on August 1, 2016. Retrieved July 29, 2016.
  75. ^ Kuchera, Ben (July 29, 2016). "Spectating Dota 2 in VR is amazing, watch it in action". Polygon. Archived from the original on July 29, 2016. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  76. ^ Sharkey, Mike (April 20, 2012). "Valve Confirms Dota 2 Will Be Free, With Twists". GameSpy. Archived from the original on May 30, 2012.
  77. ^ Stapleton, Dan (June 1, 2012). "Valve: We Won't Charge for Dota 2 Heroes". GameSpy. Archived from the original on October 30, 2012.
  78. ^ a b Dota Team (June 1, 2012). "Introducing the Dota Store". Dota 2 Official Blog. Valve. Archived from the original on February 10, 2013.
  79. ^ Senior, Tom (June 1, 2012). "Get Dota 2 now using paid-for Early Access Pass". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on December 7, 2012.
  80. ^ Sykes, Tom (August 7, 2014). "Dota 2 modding tools now in alpha, upload custom maps/modes to Steam Workshop". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on July 16, 2016. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  81. ^ "Dota 2 items - the best from the Steam workshop". PCGamesN. April 25, 2016. Archived from the original on December 2, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  82. ^ Benson, Julian. "Dota 2 Players Can Now Code Their Own AI". Kotaku. Archived from the original on December 15, 2016. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  83. ^ Hollister, Sean (January 16, 2014). "On average, 'Team Fortress 2' and 'DOTA 2' item creators made $15,000 last year". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 11, 2017.
  84. ^ Walker, Alex (January 28, 2016). "League Of Legends Made More Revenue In 2015 Than CSGO, Dota 2 And World Of Warcraft Combined". Kotaku. Archived from the original on July 27, 2016. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  85. ^ "Valve to add paid Custom Game Pass to Dota 2". PCGamer. March 15, 2016. Archived from the original on March 16, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  86. ^ a b Çakır, Gökhan (December 15, 2021). "Dota 2 MMR and ranking system explained". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 2, 2022.
  87. ^ a b c "Matchmaking". Dota 2. Archived from the original on June 30, 2016. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  88. ^ "Transitioning Into Launch Mode". Dota 2. Archived from the original on August 10, 2016. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  89. ^ Dota Team (August 6, 2019). "Matchmaking Update". Dota 2 Blog. Archived from the original on August 6, 2019. Retrieved August 6, 2019.
  90. ^ a b Bratt, Chris (April 21, 2017). "Dota 2 players must now register a phone number to play ranked matches". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on April 24, 2017. Retrieved April 21, 2017.
  91. ^ Rose, Victoria (October 30, 2017). "Dota 2's Dueling Fates patch notes forecast avalanche of massive changes". The Flying Courier. Polygon. Archived from the original on October 31, 2017. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  92. ^ Stewart, Sam (October 30, 2017). "Dota 2: The Dueling Fates Patch Notes Released". IGN. Archived from the original on October 31, 2017. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  93. ^ "World Leaderboards". Dota 2. Archived from the original on November 27, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  94. ^ "Communication Reports". Dota 2. Archived from the original on July 19, 2016. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  95. ^ "Dota - Low Priority Matchmaking". support.steampowered.com. Archived from the original on December 5, 2017. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  96. ^ Michael, Cale (July 17, 2019). "At least one player leaves in 11.7 percent of all Dota 2 matches". Dot Esports. Archived from the original on July 17, 2019. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  97. ^ "Hero Builds". Dota 2. Archived from the original on July 23, 2016. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  98. ^ Martin, Michael (June 13, 2015). "Valve Announces Dota 2 Reborn". IGN. Archived from the original on June 29, 2016. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
  99. ^ Livingston, Christopher (June 12, 2015). "Valve announces Dota 2 Reborn, new engine coming". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on June 15, 2015. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  100. ^ Macy, Seth (September 9, 2015). "Dota 2 Now Valve's First Ever Source 2 Game". IGN. Archived from the original on September 10, 2015. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
  101. ^ Hussain, Tamoor. "Dota 2 Officially Reborn on Source 2, Numerous Changes Introduced". GameSpot. Archived from the original on July 15, 2016. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  102. ^ LeJacq, Yannick (September 30, 2015). "Dota 2 Lost A Ton Of Players In September". Kotaku. Archived from the original on October 13, 2015. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
  103. ^ Whittaker, Matt (January 10, 2016). "Dota 2 Hits One Million Concurrent Users on New Engine". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on July 14, 2016.
  104. ^ Paul, Ian (May 25, 2016). "Steam's most popular game just added support for Vulkan, DirectX 12's more open rival". PC World. Archived from the original on June 29, 2016. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
  105. ^ Onyett, Charles (August 17, 2011). "Gamescom: When Do We Get to Play Dota 2?". IGN. Archived from the original on November 9, 2012.
  106. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (August 18, 2011). "Newell: Dota 2 won't ship until 2012". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on December 25, 2012.
  107. ^ Devore, Jordan (September 22, 2011). "A change of plans at Valve means we'll get Dota 2 sooner". Destructoid. Archived from the original on May 20, 2012.
  108. ^ Hernandez, Patricia (July 9, 2013). "Valve Finally "Releases" DOTA 2". Kotaku. Archived from the original on July 15, 2013. Retrieved July 9, 2013.
  109. ^ McDonald, Tim (July 19, 2013). "Dota 2 patch adds Linux and Mac support, plus customisable chat wheel". incgamers.com. IncGamers. Archived from the original on July 21, 2013. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
  110. ^ Sliwinski, Alexander (July 10, 2013). "Dota 2 launching now, officially". Joystiq. Archived from the original on February 9, 2015.
  111. ^ Thursten, Chris (August 12, 2016). "New Dota 2 hero Underlord revealed at The International". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on August 12, 2016. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
  112. ^ Thursten, Chris (August 13, 2016). "Valve announce Monkey King, the first Dota 2 hero that isn't a port from DotA". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on August 15, 2016. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
  113. ^ Warr, Philippa (September 17, 2013). "Gabe Newell: Dota 2 updates generate three percent of global internet traffic". Wired UK. Archived from the original on February 26, 2014.
  114. ^ Savage, Phil (December 17, 2013). "Dota 2 scraps sign-ups, boasts 6.5 million active monthly users". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on December 18, 2013. Retrieved December 18, 2013.
  115. ^ "Perfect World and Valve Announce Exclusive Rights for Perfect World to Operate Dota 2 in Mainland China". PR Newswire. October 18, 2012. Archived from the original on June 1, 2014.
  116. ^ Strom, Steven. "'Low Violence' Mode Highlights Dota's Smart Design". Red Bull. Archived from the original on June 3, 2016. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
  117. ^ "Weekend time-waster: original Dota 2 icons vs. censored Chinese versions". Techinasia. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
  118. ^ "Nexon and Valve Partner to Launch Dota 2 in Korea and Japan" (Press release). Business Wire. November 8, 2012. Archived from the original on November 13, 2012. Retrieved November 9, 2012.
  119. ^ Walker, Alex (November 11, 2015). "Nexon Shutting Down South Korean Dota 2 Servers, Steam Taking Over". Kotaku. Archived from the original on November 12, 2015. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
  120. ^ "7.00 Update – The New Journey Begins". Dota 2 Blog. Archived from the original on December 13, 2016. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  121. ^ a b Pereira, Chris. "Massive Dota 2 Patch Revamps the Game and Adds New Character". GameSpot. Archived from the original on December 16, 2016. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  122. ^ a b c Thursten, Chris (December 12, 2016). "Why Dota 2's 7.00 update is such a big deal". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on February 10, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  123. ^ Orland, Kyle (April 21, 2017). "Valve asks for phone numbers to confirm Dota 2 player identities". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on April 22, 2017. Retrieved April 21, 2017.
  124. ^ Donnelly, Joe (November 24, 2017). "Dota 2 gets multi-tiered Rank Medal system". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 25, 2017.
  125. ^ Rose, Victoria. "Dota 2's new Ranked MMR system released for all players". The Flying Courier. Polygon. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 25, 2017.
  126. ^ Rose, Victoria. "Icefrog: Minor Dota 2 gameplay patches to occur every two weeks". The Flying Courier. Polygon. Archived from the original on February 1, 2018. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
  127. ^ Chalk, Andy (February 2018). "Dota 2 is moving to a bi-weekly update schedule". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on February 8, 2018. Retrieved February 7, 2018.
  128. ^ Pereira, Chris. "Valve Overhauls Dota 2 Battle Pass With Subscription-Based Dota Plus". GameSpot. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  129. ^ Reilly, Jim (August 1, 2011). "Valve Goes Big with Dota 2 Tournament". IGN. Archived from the original on November 9, 2012.
  130. ^ "Introducing the Interactive Compendium". Dota 2. Archived from the original on August 11, 2016. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
  131. ^ Van Allen, Eric (July 13, 2017). "How Exactly Does Dota 2 Come Up With Over $20 Million In Prizes For Its Biggest Event?". Kotaku. Archived from the original on July 14, 2017. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  132. ^ Gaston, Martin (May 16, 2013). "Dota 2's The International 3 reaches $2m prize pool". GameSpot. Archived from the original on November 18, 2013.
  133. ^ Schulenberg, Thomas (August 4, 2013). "The International 3 begins, Prize pool of over $2.8 million". Joystiq. Archived from the original on August 7, 2013. Retrieved August 15, 2013.
  134. ^ Kharpal, Arjun; Roy Choudhury, Saheli (October 3, 2018). "Pro video gamers are making millions by age 30 in the booming world of 'esports'". CNBC. Archived from the original on October 4, 2018. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  135. ^ Shaw, Luke (July 8, 2021). "'Dota 2' tournament to be held in Bucharest with £29million prize pool". NME. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
  136. ^ Strisland, Jonas (October 25, 2011). "ESWC: DotA 2 Final". Cadred. Archived from the original on June 5, 2012.
  137. ^ "DreamHack Corsair Vengeance Dota 2 Championship". DreamHack. November 2, 2011. Archived from the original on July 25, 2012.
  138. ^ Hanten, Ulrich (December 2012). "WCG 2012: DotA and Dota 2 groups drawn". Gosu Gamers. Archived from the original on March 3, 2013. Retrieved March 3, 2013.
  139. ^ Savage, Phil (January 28, 2013). "ESL announce the largest independent Dota 2 competition so far". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on March 3, 2013. Retrieved March 3, 2013.
  140. ^ Macdonald, Stuart (January 7, 2012). "PGT outlines best paying games of 2011". SK Gaming. Archived from the original on May 28, 2012.
  141. ^ Horton, Samuel (June 13, 2012). "Nexon to invest $1.7 million in Dota 2". SK Gaming. Archived from the original on September 16, 2013.
  142. ^ Strom, Steven. "The Eastern International". Red Bull. Archived from the original on February 16, 2016. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  143. ^ Bester, Alan (March 3, 2016). "The Great Chinese Collapse of the Shanghai Major". ESPN. Archived from the original on July 3, 2016. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  144. ^ Stubbs, Mike (June 23, 2017). "Dota 2's $100 million milestone, visualised". redbull.com. Archived from the original on December 2, 2017. Retrieved June 27, 2017.
  145. ^ a b Sykes, Tom (April 25, 2015). "Dota 2 Major Championships announced". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on April 2, 2016. Retrieved June 14, 2016.
  146. ^ Dyer, Mitch (April 24, 2015). "Valve Announces The Dota 2 Major Championships". IGN. Archived from the original on November 18, 2015. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
  147. ^ Sutterlin, Alan (January 28, 2016). "The postive [sic] impact of Valve's Majors format on the Dota 2 esports scene". ESPN. Archived from the original on April 21, 2016. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  148. ^ Porter, Matt (September 24, 2015). "Dota 2 Major Announced for Frankfurt". IGN. Archived from the original on September 6, 2016. Retrieved October 13, 2016.
  149. ^ Thursten, Chris (November 21, 2015). "Valve have announced the Dota 2 Shanghai Major". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on November 25, 2015. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  150. ^ Campbell, Evan (January 12, 2016). "Dota 2: Manila Major Announced for June 2016". IGN.com. Archived from the original on January 17, 2016. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  151. ^ Good, Owen (October 4, 2016). "Dota 2's second championship season begins with The Boston Major". Polygon. Archived from the original on October 5, 2016. Retrieved October 5, 2016.
  152. ^ Van Allen, Eric (November 2, 2016). "Valve announces dates for 2017 Dota 2 season". ESPN. Archived from the original on November 11, 2016. Retrieved November 10, 2016.
  153. ^ Savov, Vlad (July 4, 2017). "Valve is rebooting its Dota 2 tournaments for a more democratic and 'organic' approach". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 5, 2017. Retrieved July 4, 2017.
  154. ^ Chalk, Andy (July 3, 2017). "Valve is eliminating the Dota 2 Majors for the 2017-18 season". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on July 5, 2017. Retrieved July 4, 2017.
  155. ^ a b Gach, Ethan (July 3, 2017). "Valve Announces Big Changes To Dota 2's Tournament Structure Going Forward". Kotaku. Archived from the original on July 10, 2017. Retrieved July 4, 2017.
  156. ^ "Dota Pro Circuit". dota2.com. Archived from the original on October 19, 2017. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
  157. ^ Makuch, Eddie (August 13, 2013). "The International hits 1 million concurrent viewers". GameSpot. Archived from the original on September 4, 2016. Retrieved April 1, 2014.
  158. ^ Van Allen, Eric (August 5, 2016). "TobiWan: The voice of Dota 2". ESPN. Archived from the original on August 6, 2016. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
  159. ^ Schwartz, Nick (July 21, 2014). "ESPN embraces esports, broadcasts Dota 2 championship 'The International'". ESPN. Archived from the original on July 16, 2016. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  160. ^ Lewis, Richard. "ESPN 'delighted' with 'Dota 2' numbers, looking to expand deeper into esports". Daily Dot. Archived from the original on July 29, 2016. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  161. ^ Ridsdale, Jack (May 25, 2018). "BBC Three will broadcast Dota 2 matches this weekend". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on November 29, 2018. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  162. ^ Lund-Hansen, Rasmus (June 16, 2016). "German TV to broadcast ESL One Dota tournament". gamereactor.eu. Archived from the original on June 20, 2016. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  163. ^ "The Defense: joinDOTA's Flagship Dota 2 Tournament Returns and Hits Danish Television". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on September 24, 2016. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
  164. ^ "电竞产业或迎春天 DOTA2上今日新闻联播". fight.pcgames.com.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on October 11, 2016. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
  165. ^ "Astro offers The International 2015 DOTA 2 Championships LIVE". astro.com.my. Archived from the original on August 19, 2016. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  166. ^ Banusing, Justin. "Catch The Manila Major Finals Live Philippine Coverage on TV". esports.inquirer.net. Archived from the original on July 13, 2016. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  167. ^ a b "Dota 2". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Archived from the original on August 7, 2013. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
  168. ^ Patrick, Hancock (July 24, 2013). "Dota 2". Destructoid. Archived from the original on July 27, 2013. Retrieved July 25, 2013.
  169. ^ Edge Staff. "Dota 2 review". Edge Magazine UK. Archived from the original on August 4, 2013. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
  170. ^ a b Smith, Quintin (July 16, 2013). "Dota 2 review". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on July 18, 2013.
  171. ^ a b Gaston, Martin (July 19, 2013). "Dota 2 Review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on July 25, 2016.
  172. ^ a b Cameron, Phill (July 24, 2013). "Dota 2 Review". IGN. Archived from the original on August 6, 2013.
  173. ^ Gies, Arthur (August 15, 2017). "Dota 2 review". Polygon. Archived from the original on August 15, 2017. Retrieved August 15, 2017.
  174. ^ a b Thursten, Chris (May 24, 2018). "Dota 2 review". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on May 24, 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  175. ^ Rignall, Jaz (August 8, 2013). "DOTA 2 Review". USgamer. Archived from the original on September 30, 2018. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  176. ^ McCormick, Rich (July 26, 2013). "Dota 2 Review". VideoGamer.com. Archived from the original on August 5, 2013. Retrieved July 29, 2013.
  177. ^ Peckham, Matt; Eadicicco, Lisa; Fitzpatrick, Alex; Vella, Matt; Patrick Pullen, John; Raab, Josh; Grossman, Lev (August 23, 2016). "The 50 Best Video Games of All Time". Time. Archived from the original on August 26, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  178. ^ Edge staff (August 2017). "Edge Presents: The 100 Greatest Video Games of All Time". Edge. No. 308.
  179. ^ Polygon staff (December 1, 2017). "The 500 best games of all time: 100-1". Polygon. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  180. ^ "The Top 300 Games of All Time". Game Informer. No. 300. April 2018.
  181. ^ McCormick, Rich (September 22, 2012). "Dota 2 Review". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on November 27, 2012.
  182. ^ Kozanitis, James (September 7, 2014). "Why Dota 2 is the Only Game that Does Free-To-Play Right". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on July 24, 2016. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
  183. ^ a b Kolan, Nick (November 12, 2012). "League of Legends Versus Dota 2". IGN. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
  184. ^ Kuchera, Ben (July 29, 2016). "Spectating Dota 2 in VR is amazing, watch it in action". Polygon. Archived from the original on August 8, 2016. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  185. ^ Thursten, Chris (July 28, 2016). "Dota 2 Battle Pass update adds crazy new VR spectator mode". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on August 12, 2016. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  186. ^ Machkovech, Sam (July 28, 2016). "Dota 2 releases full VR spectator suite—just in time for the International". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on August 7, 2016. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  187. ^ Åslund, Fredrik (July 18, 2013). "Dota 2 Recension". Gamereactor. Archived from the original on November 2, 2013. Retrieved August 16, 2013.
  188. ^ Danneberg, Benjamin (July 18, 2013). "Dota 2 im Test". GameStar (in German). Archived from the original on August 21, 2013. Retrieved August 16, 2013.
  189. ^ "Dota 2 review – eSport of kings". Metro. July 19, 2013. Archived from the original on November 25, 2013. Retrieved December 7, 2013. Nowadays games like Dota and League Of Legends are described as MOBAs, which stands for multiplayer online battle arena – a laughably unhelpful term which is strangely fitting given how infamously difficult the games are to get into. And how notoriously unpleasant and elitist their online community tends to be.
  190. ^ a b Bright, Peter (July 12, 2016). "Valve can't pass buck to third parties for teaching CS:GO kids to gamble". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on July 12, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2016.
  191. ^ Armitage, Catherine (July 30, 2016). "Nick Xenophon calls for curbs on teen gambling in esports video games". smh.com.au. The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on August 2, 2016. Retrieved August 5, 2016.
  192. ^ Wolf, Jacob (July 13, 2016). "Valve prohibits online gambling through Steam for Counter-Strike and Dota 2". ESPN. Archived from the original on July 15, 2016. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  193. ^ LeJacq, Yannick (June 19, 2015). "League And Dota 2 Are Both Becoming A Bit More Like Heroes Of The Storm". Kotaku. Archived from the original on July 25, 2016. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
  194. ^ Chalk, Andy (April 21, 2015). "League of Legends set to dominate MOBA market in 2016". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on July 15, 2016. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
  195. ^ Gaston, Martin. "How Heroes of the Storm Is Different From--and the Same as--League of Legends and Dota 2". GameSpot. Archived from the original on August 15, 2016. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
  196. ^ a b "Face Off: Is League of Legends a better game than Dota 2?". PC Gamer. February 27, 2013. Archived from the original on August 7, 2016. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
  197. ^ Parker, Jason. "Dota 2 vs. Heroes of the Storm: Which MOBA is right for you?". CNET. Archived from the original on July 24, 2016. Retrieved August 4, 2016.
  198. ^ Sillis, Ben; Partridge, Joe. "How Heroes of Newerth led OG to Dota 2". Red Bull. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 4, 2016.
  199. ^ Sottek, T.C. (May 18, 2019). "Valve is making Dota 2 players pay to avoid toxic gamers". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 4, 2019. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
  200. ^ Stubbs, Mike (June 13, 2019). "Inside Dota 2's racism storm". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on June 28, 2019. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
  201. ^ Rose, Victoria (March 21, 2017). "What is the solution to Dota 2's abusive trolling problem?". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on August 4, 2019. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
  202. ^ Talbot, Carrie (July 26, 2019). "According to a new study Dota 2 has the most toxic online community". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on August 4, 2019. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
  203. ^ MacDonald, Keza (August 23, 2011). "IGN People's Choice Award: And The Winner Is..." IGN. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012.
  204. ^ PC Gamer staff (December 11, 2011). "The PC Gamer 2012 Game of the Year nominees". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013.
  205. ^ PC Gamer staff (December 29, 2013). "E-Sport of the year: Dota 2". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on July 31, 2014.
  206. ^ Connors, Cody; Rom, Kim (January 5, 2014). "2013 onGamers esports Industry Awards". onGamers. Archived from the original on January 6, 2014.
  207. ^ GameTrailers (January 8, 2014). "Game of the Year Awards 2013 - Best PC Game". YouTube. Archived from the original on June 15, 2014. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  208. ^ "Best of 2013 Awards: Best PC Strategy & Tactics Game". IGN. January 9, 2014. Archived from the original on April 21, 2014.
  209. ^ "Best of 2013 Awards: Best PC Multiplayer Game". IGN. January 9, 2014. Archived from the original on March 9, 2014.
  210. ^ Bertz, Matt (January 7, 2014). "Game Informer Best Of 2013 Awards". Game Informer. Archived from the original on January 20, 2014. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  211. ^ Carter, Chris (December 24, 2013). "The winner of Destructoid's best of 2013 competitive game". Destructoid. Archived from the original on January 3, 2014. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  212. ^ "D.I.C.E. Awards By Video Game Details Dota 2". interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
  213. ^ Karmali, Luke (March 13, 2014). "BAFTA Games Awards 2014 Winners Announced". IGN. Archived from the original on January 5, 2015. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
  214. ^ "Nominees". The Game Awards. Archived from the original on November 14, 2015. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  215. ^ Sarkar, Samit (November 16, 2016). "Here are the nominees for The Game Awards 2016". Polygon. Archived from the original on November 16, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  216. ^ Hester, Blake (November 14, 2017). "'Horizon Zero Dawn,' 'Zelda,' 'Mario' Top List of Game Award Nominees". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 14, 2017. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
  217. ^ Winslow, Jeremy (November 19, 2019). "The Game Awards 2019 Nominees Full List". GameSpot. Archived from the original on November 23, 2019. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
  218. ^ "DOTA 2 Global Game Awards Nominee 2015". Game Debate. Archived from the original on December 2, 2015. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  219. ^ Good, Owen S. (December 20, 2016). "2016 Steam Awards finalists go all the way back to 2006". Polygon. Archived from the original on December 21, 2016. Retrieved January 7, 2016.
  220. ^ Rubin, Rebecca; Knapp, JD (August 13, 2017). "Teen Choice Awards 2017: 'Riverdale,' Fifth Harmony Shut Out Competition". Variety. Archived from the original on August 16, 2017. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
  221. ^ Gaito, Eri (November 13, 2017). "Golden Joystick Awards 2017 Nominees". Best in Slot. Archived from the original on January 10, 2018. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  222. ^ Hoggins, Tom (September 24, 2018). "Golden Joysticks 2018 nominees announced, voting open now". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on October 8, 2018. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
  223. ^ Sheridan, Connor (November 16, 2018). "Golden Joystick Awards 2018 winners: God of War wins big but Fortnite gets Victory Royale". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on November 16, 2018. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
  224. ^ Tailby, Stephen (September 20, 2019). "Days Gone Rides Off with Three Nominations in This Year's Golden Joystick Awards". Push Square. Archived from the original on September 20, 2019. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
  225. ^ "Best of 2017 Awards: Best Spectator Game". IGN. December 20, 2017. Archived from the original on December 26, 2017. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  226. ^ Lahti, Evan (May 20, 2013). "Dota 2 breaks concurrent Steam players record (again)". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on June 7, 2013. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  227. ^ Pitcher, Jenna (May 21, 2013). "Dota 2 breaks own record for most concurrent users on Steam". Polygon. Archived from the original on June 9, 2013. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  228. ^ Peel, Jeremy (May 24, 2013). "Dota 2 had more players yesterday than the rest of the Steam top ten put together". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on June 7, 2013. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  229. ^ McCormick, Rich (October 30, 2013). "Steam rises to 65 million active users, eclipsing Xbox Live". The Verge. Archived from the original on January 3, 2017. Retrieved January 12, 2017.
  230. ^ Orland, Kyle (April 16, 2014). "Introducing Steam Gauge: Ars reveals Steam's most popular games". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on November 26, 2016. Retrieved January 12, 2017.
  231. ^ Good, Owen (February 15, 2015). "Dota 2 is Steam's first game with 1 million users playing at the same time". Polygon. Archived from the original on November 13, 2015. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
  232. ^ Maiberg, Emanuel. "Dota 2 Hits 1 million Concurrent Players, Still Far Smaller Than League of Legends". GameSpot. Archived from the original on October 18, 2015. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
  233. ^ Brown, Fraser (September 16, 2017). "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds beats Dota 2's highest concurrent player record". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on September 17, 2017. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  234. ^ McWhertor, Michael (July 29, 2014). "The International Dota 2 tournament watched by more than 20M viewers, Valve says". Polygon. Archived from the original on July 23, 2016. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
  235. ^ Thean Eu, Goh (August 18, 2015). "Astro gets into e-sports, Dota 2 broadcast pulls in 1.5mil viewers". Digital News Asia. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
  236. ^ Aitchison, Kaci (August 19, 2016). "Millions of people from around the world are watching THIS game". FOX13 News. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016. Retrieved August 20, 2016.
  237. ^ "Dota 2 is Now Being Learned in Schools Around China". GameTribute. November 28, 2014. Archived from the original on May 22, 2017. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  238. ^ "Skills Certificate in DOTA 2". APU eSports Malaysia Academy. Archived from the original on March 21, 2017. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
  239. ^ Kim, Andrew (May 22, 2017). "Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games choose Dota 2 over League of Legends for MOBA category". Slingshot Esports. Archived from the original on August 8, 2017. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
  240. ^ "SEA Games 2019: Esports, Dota 2, full schedule, live stream, when and where to watch, squad, timing in PDF". Fox Sports Asia. November 23, 2019. Archived from the original on November 29, 2019. Retrieved November 30, 2019.
  241. ^ "SteelSeries and Valve® Corporation Introduce the SteelSeries QcK+ DotA 2 Edition". Business Wire. August 16, 2011. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014. Retrieved June 20, 2014.
  242. ^ "Dota 2 - Aegis of Champions". Dota 2. Archived from the original on July 7, 2016. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  243. ^ Plunkett, Luke (September 24, 2012). "DOTA 2's Official Replica Weapons Are Blowing My Mind". Kotaku. Archived from the original on June 1, 2014. Retrieved May 31, 2014.
  244. ^ "NECA/WizKids Unveils New Dota 2 And Team Fortress 2 Collectibles, Games, With Valve". PR Newswire. February 6, 2013. Archived from the original on November 1, 2013. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
  245. ^ Hayden, Scott (August 10, 2015). "Valve's 'Secret Shop' HTC Vive Demo Introduces You to DotA 2's Fantastic World Full of Magic". roadtovr.com. Archived from the original on March 31, 2017. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
  246. ^ Pearce, Alanah; Dyer, Mitch (March 24, 2016). "The Lab: Valve's Free and Fun VR Mini-Game Collection". IGN. Archived from the original on February 24, 2017. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  247. ^ "The Collector's Aegis of Champions". Dota 2. Archived from the original on July 10, 2016. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
  248. ^ "Level 1000 Collector's Aegis of Champions". Dota 2. Archived from the original on July 31, 2016. Retrieved July 29, 2016.
  249. ^ Martindale, Jon. "Virtual reality and DotA 2 fan? We have the VR headset for you". Yahoo. Archived from the original on August 23, 2016. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
  250. ^ "DOTA 2 (The Official Soundtrack)". releases.red. Archived from the original on July 28, 2017. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  251. ^ Gies, Arthur (August 8, 2017). "Valve announces Artifact, a Dota 2 card game". Polygon. Archived from the original on August 9, 2017. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
  252. ^ Chalk, Andy (August 2018). "Artifact, Valve's fantasy card game, will be out in November". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on August 1, 2018. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
  253. ^ Scott-Jones, Richard (March 8, 2018). "The creator of Magic: The Gathering is working on Artifact". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on March 9, 2018. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  254. ^ a b Cameron, Phill (February 25, 2015). "Getting to know the business of Dota 2's indie Announcer Packs". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on April 7, 2016. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  255. ^ Gaston, Martin. "Dota 2 First Blood update debuts GLaDOS announcer on September 23". GameSpot. Archived from the original on October 25, 2015. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  256. ^ Zorine, Te. "Dota 2 gets The Stanley Parable announcer pack". GameSpot. Archived from the original on October 25, 2015. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  257. ^ Zorine, Te. "Dota 2 Gets Rick and Morty Announcer Pack". GameSpot. Archived from the original on April 28, 2016. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  258. ^ Frank, Allegra (October 22, 2015). "Fallout 4 meets Dota 2 with Mister Handy announcer pack". Polygon. Archived from the original on August 7, 2016. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  259. ^ Gies, Arthur (September 2, 2016). "Deus Ex's Adam Jensen is a strange, great fit in Dota 2". Polygon. Archived from the original on September 2, 2016. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
  260. ^ Rose, Victoria (October 2018). "Darkest Dungeon Ancestor announcer available in Dota 2 on October 2". The Flying Courier. Polygon. Archived from the original on October 2, 2018. Retrieved October 2, 2018.
  261. ^ Middleton, Ryan (July 26, 2015). "Deadmau5 Releases 35 Minutes Of New Music For 'Dota 2'". Music Times. Archived from the original on April 21, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  262. ^ Greening, Chris (September 8, 2014). "DOTA 2 adds epic orchestral music pack from Chance Thomas". Video Game Music Online. Archived from the original on March 22, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  263. ^ Nguyen, Patrick (July 5, 2015). "Bristleback announcer pack and Compendium music by Jeremy Soule is out now". gamespresso. Archived from the original on January 22, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  264. ^ Carter, Chris (July 28, 2015). "Final Fantasy Type-0 HD will have DOTA 2 bonuses, 'exclusive loading screen' on PC". Destructoid. Archived from the original on August 14, 2016. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  265. ^ "Warhammer Comes to the Dota 2 Workshop". Dota 2. Archived from the original on July 7, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  266. ^ Stewart, Sam (May 19, 2017). "Valve Reveals Companion Cube Cosmetic For Dota 2 Hero". IGN. Archived from the original on May 19, 2017. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  267. ^ Moyse, Chris (December 6, 2017). "Capcom submit Okami's Amaterasu as a potential DOTA 2 courier". Destructoid. Archived from the original on March 4, 2018. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  268. ^ Devore, Jordan (March 19, 2014). "Dota 2 documentary Free to Play: The Movie released". Destructoid. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  269. ^ "NBA star Jeremy Lin says DOTA 2 is "more than just a game"". GameSpot. Archived from the original on March 18, 2017. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  270. ^ Markazi, Arash (August 13, 2016). "Jeremy Lin on esports: "It's the unique talent of the players that is the draw"". ESPN. Archived from the original on August 13, 2016. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  271. ^ Kelly, Christina (August 12, 2016). "Jeremy Lin compares NBA All-Stars to Dota heroes". ESPN. Archived from the original on August 15, 2016. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
  272. ^ a b Thursten, Chris (October 13, 2016). "Valve's latest Dota 2 documentary series starts today". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on October 14, 2016. Retrieved October 13, 2016.
  273. ^ Rose, Victoria (September 27, 2017). "True Sight mini-documentary, this time featuring TI7's Grand Finals, is now available to watch". The Flying Courier. Polygon. Archived from the original on October 13, 2017. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  274. ^ "Dota 2: 'True Sight' documentary on OG's victory over PSG.LGD in TI8 Finals to premiere Jan. 15". Fox Sports Asia. December 23, 2018. Archived from the original on December 23, 2018. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
  275. ^ Dyer, Mitch (August 7, 2015). "See the Dota 2 Cosplay, Merch, and Spectacle at The International 5". IGN. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
  276. ^ Stubbs, Mike. "$15,000 cosplay competition to take place at The International 6". MCV. Archived from the original on August 6, 2016. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
  277. ^ Van Allen, Eric (May 30, 2016). "Why Moscow deserves a Dota 2 major". ESPN. Archived from the original on July 7, 2016. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
  278. ^ Plunkett, Luke (November 19, 2015). "2015's Best Cartoons Made Using Valve's Games". Kotaku. Archived from the original on August 12, 2016. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  279. ^ Wilson, Nick (May 24, 2015). "Enter the Dota 2 Short Film Contest and bag yourself a cool $20,000 at the International". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on August 7, 2016. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  280. ^ Wood, Austin (August 8, 2018). "This year's Dota 2 short film contest saw some incredible entries at the last minute". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on August 9, 2018. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  281. ^ Albert, Brian (November 15, 2014). "New Dota 2 Comic Hints at Release of 'Oracle' Dota 1 Hero". IGN. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
  282. ^ Strom, Steven (November 19, 2015). "Valve Launches Long-Form Dota 2 Comic 'The Last Castle'". IGN. Archived from the original on February 12, 2016. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
  283. ^ Savage, Phil (February 11, 2015). "Dota 2 comic heralds New Bloom update". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on August 17, 2016. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
  284. ^ "DOTA 2: The Comic Collection HC". darkhorse.com. Archived from the original on March 2, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  285. ^ "Netflix Announces DOTA: Dragon's Blood Anime Series Based On The Popular Video-Game Franchise By Valve". Netflix Media Center. February 16, 2021.
  286. ^ Simonite, Tom. "Can Bots Outwit Humans in One of the Biggest esports Games?". Wired. Archived from the original on June 25, 2018. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  287. ^ Vincent, James (June 25, 2018). "AI bots trained for 180 years a day to beat humans at Dota 2". The Verge. Archived from the original on June 25, 2018. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  288. ^ Kahn, Jeremy (June 25, 2018). "A Bot Backed by Elon Musk Has Made an AI Breakthrough in Video Game World". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on June 27, 2018. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  289. ^ Clifford, Catherine (June 28, 2018). "Bill Gates says gamer bots from Elon Musk-backed nonprofit are 'huge milestone' in A.I." CNBC. Archived from the original on June 28, 2018. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
  290. ^ Savov, Vlad (August 14, 2017). "My favorite game has been invaded by killer AI bots and Elon Musk hype". The Verge. Archived from the original on June 26, 2018. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  291. ^ Frank, Blair Hanley. "OpenAI's bot beats top Dota 2 player so badly that he quits". Venture Beat. Archived from the original on August 12, 2017. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
  292. ^ Savov, Vlad (August 6, 2018). "The OpenAI Dota 2 bots just defeated a team of former pros". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 7, 2018. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  293. ^ Simonite, Tom. "Pro Gamers Fend off Elon Musk-Backed AI Bots—for Now". Wired. Archived from the original on August 24, 2018. Retrieved August 25, 2018.
  294. ^ Quach, Katyanna. "Game over, machines: Humans defeat OpenAI bots once again at video games Olympics". The Register. Archived from the original on August 25, 2018. Retrieved August 25, 2018.
  295. ^ "The International 2018: Results". blog.openai.com. August 24, 2018. Archived from the original on August 24, 2018. Retrieved August 25, 2018.
  296. ^ Piper, Kelsey (April 13, 2019). "AI triumphs against the world's top pro team in strategy game Dota 2". Vox. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dota 2.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dota_2&oldid=1254966037"