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Blizzard DOTA headed to standalone retail release

Blizzard DOTA is set for a retail release, if today's Activision Blizzard Q4 earnings call is to be believed.

A slide showing the "Expanding Blizzard Portfolio" included columns for World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, Warcraft, the new MMO codenamed Titan, and a sixth column: Blizzard DOTA, listing a release for both "Retail and Battle.net".

Expanding Blizzard Portfolio - Activision Blizzard Q4 Earnings call

Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime later confirmed that the game will be released as a free-to-play online title. Blizzard DOTA is currently in development using the StarCraft II engine, based on the popular MOBA gameplay style.

It was first revealed at BlizzCon 2010 as a mod for the then-new StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, but has since developed a life of its own.

Blizzard DOTA

Morhaime pointedly explains that - in order to "distinguish it from competitors", Blizzard DOTA will use heroes from across Blizzard's sizeable back-catalogue of games. It's a reference to Valve's upcoming DOTA 2 and Riot Games' already-popular League of Legends, both of which are based on the original DOTA gameplay.

It's an understandable snark - DOTA evolved out of a mod for Warcraft III, based on a map from StarCraft. All three games may well jostle for place on the virtual shelves later this year, when all eyes will be watching to see who comes out on top.

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7 Responses to “Blizzard DOTA headed to standalone retail release”

Blizzard sues Valve over DOTA « Player Attack says:

February 9, 2012 at 10:42 pm

[...] to this morning's news that Blizzard is planning to bring Blizzard DOTA to retail, we've now been informed that the company is suing Valve over the impending "official sequel", DOTA [...]

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Blizzard Sues Over DOTA TM | ashspokemon.com says:

February 10, 2012 at 10:44 am

[...] t&#959 wh&#1110&#1089h Blizzard h&#1072&#1109 long objected. Th&#1110&#1109 federal lawsuit follows indications th&#1072t Blizzard &#1110&#1109 &#1088l&#959tt&#1110ng a retail release f&#959r th&#1077&#1110r [...]

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chronicdiscord says:

February 11, 2012 at 4:50 am

It’ll be DOTA2 that comes out on top, because it directly and completely recreates DOTA, all the same heroes and powers all the same numbers for it.

What you’ve learned for one is exactly the same for the other – so players will directly upgrade to DOTA2.

This consistency is due to the guy that has been maintaining and developing DOTA for the last half-decade being in charge for DOTA2 – and working on both at the same time.

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- Fonjask says:
  
  February 11, 2012 at 5:41 am
  
  Players will not at all directly upgrade to DotA2, I’m not sure what MobA you play, but the vast majority of people in Heroes of Newerth don’t like DotA2 at all due to its extremely slow pace and unclear graphic style. Not sure how Blizzard’s game’s gonna be, but the beta will have to speak for itself.
  
  Reply
  - Wounds says:
    
    February 11, 2012 at 1:53 pm
    
    Thank god HoN was an awful recreate of Dota. HoN fanbois are gonna be HoN fanbois. All the HoN players will switch over to Dota 2 because HoN will die once S2 (an awful gaming company) dies and finally leaves this planet of ours.Player Dota, HoN, LoL and am now in the Dota 2 beta. Dota 2′s more refined, clean, balanced and fun than all of those games combined.
    
    P.S. HoN’s graphics were shit and too flashy, could hardly tell what the hell was going on half the time and I played that game for over a year.
    
    Reply
  - hujja says:
    
    February 11, 2012 at 4:35 pm
    
    good, HoN sucked and the community was even worse.
    
    Reply
HappyWulf says:

February 12, 2012 at 12:02 am

I think I’ll stick to LoL. Because in my book, that’s the game with the best game play and meta.

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