In what seems rather poetic considering it snapped up original DotA developer, Ice Frog, to make DotA 2, Valve is now looking to ape the success of a mod for its game, DotA Auto Chess. It's announced that a standalone version of the custom DotA map is in development and will eventually be released for free to all of its wide player base.
DotA Auto Chess isn't much like chess, even if it is played on a chess board. It sees characters paid for with gold and placed and equipped strategically to tackle various opponents choices too. It's more like a card game really, but whatever it is, it's proved exceedingly popular, with more than eight million players signed up to the mod at last count. That's perhaps why Valve has decided it needs to get in on that action and it will do so with its own standalone version.
It did look to work with the original mod creators at Drodo studios, with Valve reaching out "to chat about the future of Dota Auto Chess, and to see if they’d want to collaborate directly with us," as per PCGamesn. Sadly, it didn't work out. "We both came to the conclusion that Valve and Drodo could not work directly with each other," Valve said, so as a result, "we ended up agreeing that we’ll each build our own stand-alone version of the game, and support each other to the fullest."
Drodo did give its blessing for the official Valve creation and in turn was receiving help from Valve to help port the mod to a license-free model outside of the game. There's also a mobile version in the works to take the DotA chess formula outside of the main game and into a much broader global audience.
