From In-Portal Developers Guide

DotA 2 In Development By Valve

When Valve announced their involvement in the progression of Defense with the Ancients 2, gaming news sites around the world swarmed. For those who haven't heard about Defense from the Ancients, or DotA for short, it is the pioneer from the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena genre in video gaming. DotA originated as a custom scenario for that widely popular Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, whose development is helmed by Icefrog.

The rise of DotA may be caused by the truth that it absolutely was designed for the city and by the city. Its popularity skyrocketed to the millions in 26 different languages worldwide, spawning competitive tournaments like the World DotA Championship (WDC) as well as the DotA 2 teams with cash prizes approximately USD32,000. Since its release, DotA has turned into a staple at Blizzard Entertainment's BlizzCon and also the Asian World Cyber Games, and also the Cyberathlete Amateur and CyberEvolution leagues. Gamasutra asserted that DotA was maybe the most favored "free, non-supported game mod inside the world". Its prominence has also brought competitors searching for a decline in the profits, concentrating on the same MOBA-styled games for example League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth appearing.

Skip forward presenting day 2010, DotA 2 is under development by Valve as well as Icefrog. While DotA has always been a free of charge to try out scenario, not counting the initial acquiring Warcraft III, this new game under Valve heralds the start of its commercialization, but whether it becomes Free-to-Play (FTP) with the in-game cash shop or Pay-to-Play (PTP), remains to be seen.

Regardless, there's no question DotA 2 would have a warm reception, judging from the current playerbase, though gameplay-wise Valve has high expectations in order to meet.