Not So Massively Extra: Dota 2 to be unveiled with $1.6 million US tournament

The MOBA (Massively Online Battle Arena) genre has absolutely exploded in the past year, with several hugely successful titles released based on the gameplay of popular Warcraft 3 mod Defense of the Ancients. The original DotA mod remains one of today's most played competitive online games, and games based on it have begun to pull in millions of players. The big players of the industry have definitely taken notice of this fledgling genre's success, with Valve even going so far as to acquire the DotA brand and start work on a true sequel aimed for a 2011 release.

We heard last month that Dota 2 is due to be previewed in a competitive tournament at August's Gamescom 2011 in Germany. In a new announcement on the official Dota 2 blog, Valve has now revealed the incredible details of this massive tournament. 16 of the world's top classic DotA teams will clash in a bid to win a staggering $1,000,000 US top prize. Confirmed commentator Tobi has been referenced as saying that the total prize pool is actually $1.6 million US, leaving a potential $600,000 for runner-up prizes. This tournament will be the first time Dota 2 is publicly shown, and every match will be streamed live across the internet in four languages. The five-day tournament will run between August 17th and August 21st.

Reader Comments (30)

Lame. Dota 2 is NOT the successor of Dota. Valve Corp trademarked the name without consulting with Bliz or the creator of Dota. And they went ahead to develop the so-call Dota 2 after hiring Icefrog.

The real spiritual successor of the original Dota is actually LoL, since it was co-created by the Guinsoo.

@Tyrang Blizzard did not create DotA they just were the ones who had it created using their tools.

@Tyrang ermm..

DotA is a Warcraft 3 mod based on AoS that is a Starcraft mod.

Designers/developers for Dota and its various variations.

"Eul" (2003)
Steve "Guinsoo" Feak (2003-2005)
"IceFrog" (2005-present)

Riot games did not make DotA.

Guinsoo was part of making it yes.

They did not register any IP/trademark.

So value grabbed it. All the power to valve.

@Viiral value = valve.. hate typers.

@Viiral @TheMustacheHero

I know that Dota was not developed by Bliz. I am just saying Volve kinda just trademarked Dota (which is a free game mod with Warcraft map), and hired Icefrog, which i believe did not start Dota, but join the development later.

Just saying that trademarking a free mod without consulting the creator of the mod is kinda lame. Making money off it is even more so.

@Tyrang

In fact, I believe Pandragon (the community manager of Dota i think) released a letter regarding to the whole trademark business and his negative feeling towards it when it happened.

Pandragon also moved on to LoL with Guinsoo.

I am not a LoL fanboy, just kinda find the situation distasteful.

@Tyrang

O and just like what @Eamil said in the below comment, Bliz themselves don't even understand the concept of trademarking a community project as a sequel.

@Tyrang

Do you even know how custom map modding works? DotA has nothing to do with Blizzard except that it was made using their editor. Most custom maps have very little in common aside from the engine in which they operate, with the original Warcraft melee game and rules.

@NeverDeath

Please READ what I wrote. I shouldn't even have to reply to this.

@Tyrang
Valve trademarked DOTA not DotA (Defense of the Ancients). LoL is not even close to what DotA is, except the concept of heroes pushing 3 lanes.
They did, in fact, consult with the creator of Dota. At least I assume so if they hired him to developed the game. What Guinsoo was working on was Dota-Allstars, and before that there were many other variations of the truly original DotA that was created by Eul. (Who by the way has no legal rights to DotA and his DotA has almost no comparison to the one Icefrog is making today)

And anything Pandragon might write is almost surly a marketing plan vs DOTA 2. (Which in my eyes is "kidna distasteful") He has been doing that ever since he left the Dota community for LoL.

@MikeRoch

I thought Icefrog only join Dota after two years after Guinsoo started the Dota-allstar as we know now, formatted after Eul.

But that didn't matter, I still dislike the fact that a community project being trademark. In fact, it is a community property.

Either way, I should stop my ranting as it is becoming trolling.

@Tyrang
Steve "Guinsoo" Feak / Pendragon ditched Dota and went to work for Riot so they could make some money, while icefrog is supporting Dota till now for free.
Now pendragon just crying on his site cause DOTA2 going to hurt LoL.

Probably a smart move. With so many great games already in the genre, I was wondering what the selling point of Dota 2 would be. $$$ seems to be what they are going with. Normally the greed approach does little for me...but that is A LOT of $$$$$$$ !

@(Unverified) what is the selling point for you? Are you one of the 16 teams?

Its a $1.6 million advertising fee that wouldnt exist without LoL's recent viewership numbers.

@Fire Walk With Me

I didn't catch that it was only for those 16 teams when I made that post. I was thinking it was something along the lines of them having a launch tournament so that the potential subscribers would get a shot at the big money. I don't really get the point of the large $$ amount now, other than just getting a few blurbs on gaming sites. That much money could be better spent imo.

I read an article recently, it had a quote from Blizzard's Christ Sigaty stating that Blizzard and Valve were on good terms and as a result there was no conflict over the Dota trademark.

Based on that statement I think it's fair to say that Blizzard has pretty much embraced Dota2 as the successor. Guinsoo left for Riot games, he might say that he challenged the trademark for the community but it's all a show...his interest lies with League of Casuals.

@Cunnifer

Blizzard's CEO went on record at last year's Blizzcon as saying he didn't understand why Valve would trademark the name of a community project. I'd venture a guess that just because Blizzard won't be filing a lawsuit (could they really if they wanted to anyway? they didn't make it so it seems a bit murky) doesn't mean they necessarily think it's kosher.

@Eamil

There again, Blizzard thinks it's "Kosher" to recycle years-old content and accept sub fees in return for this "service".

So who cares what they think. And no, DotA has nothing to do with Blizzard, it's a custom map made with their editor, and is in no way a property of Blizzard.

@NeverDeath

I hope that last bit wasn't directed at me since I'm pretty sure I was clear in labeling it a "community project."

@Eamil

NeverDeath clearly doesn't read. He said the same to me after I having stated Dota has nothing to do with Bliz.

He prolly just wanna sound smart.

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Not So Massively Extra: Dota 2 to be unveiled with $1.6 million US tournament

Reader Comments (30)

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 3:15PM Tyrang said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 3:33PM TheMustacheHero said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 4:01PM Viiral said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 4:02PM Viiral said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 4:08PM Tyrang said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 4:17PM Tyrang said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 4:18PM Tyrang said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 5:17PM NeverDeath said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 5:26PM Tyrang said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 10:31PM MikeRoch said

Posted: Aug 4th 2011 3:03AM Tyrang said

Posted: Aug 4th 2011 10:09AM clankyasp said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 3:20PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 5:02PM Fire Walk With Me said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 5:15PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 3:37PM Cunnifer said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 4:03PM Eamil said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 5:58PM NeverDeath said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 6:54PM Eamil said

Posted: Aug 3rd 2011 7:01PM Tyrang said

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