Dota 2

Blizzard and Valve have finally reached an agreement regarding the trademark battle circling around the DOTA (Dawn of the Ancients) name. Blizzard has definitely ended the loser.

DOTA was a popular fan mode for Blizzard’s Warcraft III. In 2010 Valve hired one of the mod’s creators and announced it had begun work on DOTA 2, of course Blizzard wasn’t pleased and announced its own sequel Blizzard DOTA.

A settlement has been reached by the two parties regarding the use of the DOTA name. Valve is allowed to continue using the DOTA name commercially for DOTA 2, while Blizzard will retain non-commercial use of the name for its community. Blizzard must also rename its upcoming Blizzard DOTA game to Blizzard All-Stars.

Blizzard’s Rob Pardo said: ”Both Blizzard and Valve recognize that, at the end of the day, players just want to be able to play the games they’re looking forward to, so we’re happy to come to an agreement that helps both of us stay focused on that.”

“As part of this agreement, we’re going to be changing the name of Blizzard DOTA to Blizzard All-Stars, which ultimately better reflects the design of our game. We look forward to going into more detail on that at a later date.”

Valve boss Gabe Newell added: “We’re pleased that we could come to an agreement with Blizzard without drawing things out in a way that would benefit no one. We both want to focus on the things our fans care about, creating and shipping great games for our communities.”

It’s good to see that an amicable agreement has been reached by the two parties. It’s sad that Blizzard – who’s game was originally modded – lost the rights to the name, however most fans recognize DOTA 2 as the real sequel, so it’s only right that Valve get to keep the name. At lease everyone can now concentrate on their respected games instead of this battle.

Are you glad that DOTA 2 got to keep its name?