Valve officially launches Dota 2

After two years in beta, Dota 2 has been officially launched by Valve as a free-to-play game via digital distribution platform Steam.

According to an announcement made on the official Dota 2 blog, the game currently holds the largest active community on Steam. Due to the size of the user base, Dota 2’s official launch will be conducted in waves.

Players who are interested in picking up the free-to-play game can access it via the Dota 2 Steam page and join the launch queue, which is introducing new players in waves to accommodate anticipated server spikes.

Valve expects to start rolling out entry for new users “this week”.

Dota 2 combines action and real-time strategy elements in multiplayer matches that pit teams of player-controlled heroes against one another. The game includes integrated voice chat and the option to play against AI-controlled heroes.

Valve’s Dota 2 eSports tournament "The International 3" accrued a prize pool of more than $2 million due to contributions from the community. The prize pool will go towards the event, which is the third in a series of annual tournaments and will run from August 7-11 in Seattle this year.