Calling a game dead can be in the context of two topics. The first one is that the game is losing its player base and the 2nd one is that maybe the game is losing its relevance and getting beat down by the competition. In the case of Dota 2 none of this is true because there’s no competition a mile in front of Dota 2 and the esports scene is the biggest in the industry monetarily. Now let’s crunch some numbers and player stats to determine how dead is dota 2 anyways.
Dota 2 has the biggest prize pool in all of e-sports. The 2021 international had a whopping 40 million dollars in prize pool so if we compare Dota to any other esports battle arena game for instance let’s call League Of Legends. League of Legends Worlds has a prize pool of 2.23 million which is about 1694% smaller than 40 million of Dota 2’s international prize money. But apart from the massive esport scene of Dota the real question and the topic of this blog is that “Is Dota 2 a dead game or Not?”. To find the answer we can look at the game’s Steam stats and its concurrent players So in the month of May 2023 the average count of players in Dota 2 was 430000 if you may not see this that means it’s way more alive than you thought.
Now after the numbers game let’s talk about how players are feeling about the game! Is Dota getting regular updates with new content? making the game more interesting or it’s appealing to new gamers to try Dota 2. There are three main topics in this (i) rank play (ii) content (iii) esports scene.
Rank Play:
There is no arguing that Dota 2 is really hard because of its depth and complex mechanical skill ceiling. To put things in perspective there are 123 heroes in the game each with its
Each of them got at least three uncommon basic abilities and an ultimate. Each hero has a talent tree that lets players choose between two distinguishable at levels 10, 15, 20, and 25, which will give the character a boost in a unique way. There are also other factors to give importance like Buying the Correct Items, Ability Timing, and knowing the fact that this is a Team Game. Now for new players, all these adjectives may sound stressful. And ranking up in the game is also really hard and if you get stuck then… good luck with it.
Boosting Services:
Like every other competitive game Dota 2 also has boosting services providers where you can pay sites like mmr-boost.com to get your favorite rank in the game. This is the most stress free method that you can take to rank up but consider your wallet before making this decision because boosting services can become expensive sometimes.
Pros:
Faster rank up: Of course, boosting is all about getting the required person’s wanted rank. And also, if you want to play with and against good players early on in your Dota 2 history, boosting might be the only solution you have.
Better Rewards: Boosting can give you access to better rewards like cosmetics of the game, battle pass points, etc.
Fastest way to get better: The fastest way to grow at something is to compete against the best. The same goes for dota 2 The better your enemies are the more you learn.
Cons:
Against the T&S: So, Boosting is against the valve’s terms and if you get caught your account will get banned.
Difficult to maintain the rank: Maintaining the higher ranks than your skill ceiling It will be harder for you to maintain it.
Content:
There hasn’t been a huge content release in Dota 2 the update on 5/30/2023. was just a bunch of bug fixes and gameplay patches. The latest update Dota Plus Update — Summer 2023 has just been released and the patch notes state:
New Seasonal Treasure: The Summer 2023 Seasonal Treasure is now available for purchase with shards. This treasure includes and features all-new sets for Axe, Ember Spirit, Troll Warlord, Zeus, Oracle, Queen of Pain, Sand King, and Treant Protector. There is also a chance to unlock Moil the Fettered courier, who haunts the lanes bearing random prismatic and ethereal gems.
Updated Seasonal Quests and New Guild Rewards: The Dota Plus seasonal quests have been updated for the Summer 2023 season. These will reward you with shards, so you use them to purchase new sets, treasures, and other items in the Dota Plus shop. And the new guild rewards have been updated so the high-scoring guild will earn new emoticons, sprays, and of course the chat wheels.
Improved Hero Guides and New Hero Challenges: New information and features have been added to the Dota Plus hero guides to make them better. The item builds, skill builds, and gameplay advice in these guides have all been expanded. New Hero Challenges have also been added to the Dota Plus Hero Challenges. You can learn new tactics from these challenges, which will help you play your favorite heroes more effectively.
The eSports Scene:
Dota is the biggest stage of eSports when it comes to the prize money. As I told you earlier, the 2021 international Had the biggest prize money of a whopping 40 million dollars. The eSports Scene alone can drive the game’s relevance to the roof. But there is one thing that’s not good about the eSports Scene is that it requires a hell lot of money to even start as an org. And apart for the internationals there isn’t much money or attention that other tournaments get so for getting a better return on investment orgs try their heart and soul to win the internationals.
Verdict:
I explained everything that is why dota 2 is not dying right the average player count or the relevance of its eSports Scene. It is safe to say Dota 2 isn’t going anywhere. The uniqueness and the care that Gaben puts it in makes it more liveable.