Both the run up and the aftermath of TI4 have shown, through the tournament itself and the hype surrounding it, that DotA is one of the leading forces in eSports, setting the stage for what is hopefully an inevitable move into the mainstream. This year TI4 broke multiple records with the prize pool reaching a monumental $10 million, putting Newbee into the Guinness World Records with their $5 million share of the prize money becoming millionaires overnight and recently featuring on the front page of The New York Times.
The International in 2011 was the start of something big for DotA 2, showing it could continue its relevance as a game beyond the success of the original DotA. But just like TI1, TI4 again is just the start. It is the global launching pad from which DotA 2 can carry on growing in popularity. For the month of July 2014, DotA 2 had over 9.6 million unique players and this figure will probably grow even more. Looking at the current trends:
Any gaming enthusiast would probably consider an eSport to be more than 'just a game', such as more casual phone games like Angry Birds or even popular PC and console games like Civilisation and Gears of War are labelled. Being dubbed an 'eSport' is the distinction many competitive games have been striving for and is what separates them from 'just games'. However, there is another level to this when you consider that not only is DotA 2 in the Guinness World Records, but has also recently made PC Gamer’s Top 100 games. This ranking puts the game above titles such as World of Warcraft, Fallout 3, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and League of Legends. Whilst this is a list that for some reason places FIFA 13 above LoL, by being placed 16 by such a notable publication, DotA 2 is significanlty ahead of some classic PC games, even called to be the "prodigal child of PC gaming
"Dota 2's developers are the stewards of something bigger than themselves: a game so absurdly complex and competitively exciting that it could have only come from a modding community. It is the prodigal child of PC gaming."
Recently, another media mastodon in The New York Times also ran a feature on eSports with DotA 2 and The International as key focus points. The article was featured on the front page of the newspaper's website, which puts it in prime real estate for the attention of readers outside the world of gaming. Again, regardless of the status of this piece in the gaming community itself, it's important to recognise just what DotA has done for its genre and video games as a whole. Although the piece's title "In E-Sports, Video Gamers Draw Real Crowds and Big Money" is perhaps simplistic and comercially focused, it's TI4 what it really says on the article's tin and that can only be a benefit to a community that loves DotA.
In a way, this combination of achievements takes DotA 2 not only beyond the "just a game" tag, but also beyond "just an eSport". It has become a gaming phenomenon.
There is a strong argument that the MOBA game is the forefront of international gaming, having the higgest total prize pools in all of eSports' history. In purely monetary terms, DotA is the leader of competitive tournaments. Not to say that is unequivocaly the best game or the best eSport, but it has definitely garnered a significant following that can be quantified in dollars. Even if all this talk of money is missing the point of gaming, DotA can be classed as a historic moment in the history of gaming, not just for the records it has broken, but for creating and popularising a defining genre in eSports.
In the table below you can see some recent eSports tournaments. In terms of prize pool DotA 2 and LoL are clearly the leaders. Although TI4 didn't have the most live spectators, its huge prize pool gave it mainstream attention and showed how committed the community were to the event.
| Tournament | Prize pool | Arena Capacity | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Dota 2's The International 4 | $10,931,105 | Key Arena: 17,000 |
 | 2013 SC2 World Championship | $250,000 | Anaheim Convention Center: 26,000 |
| 2012 SC2 World Championship | $250,000 | Shanghai Expo Mart 10,000 |
 | LoL Season 3 World Championship | $2,050,000 |
Staples Center 18,000 |
 |
2014 MLG Circuit | $150,000 | Anaheim Convention Center 26,000 |
In assessing DotA’s prominence as an eSport and a video game, it is important to think of what gaming has been associated with in mainstream media and society. PC gaming has always been at the heart of competitive eSports, as many have considered console gaming to be technically inferior and marketed traditionally to a wider and more mainstream audience. Without trying to light the short fuse of this hackneyed argument, it is clear that while console gaming still has its place in eSports, the latest hardware updates from Microsoft and Sony have certainly taken big steps towards entertainment systems instead of dedicated gaming platforms.
Considering this move, there is a marked distinction between gamers who prefer the mouse and keyboard to the handheld controller. Console was once king of the mainstream, but with the introduction of Steam and other easily accessible gaming platforms, the layout of popular gaming is changing and DotA is its centerpiece.
When people think of classic games, what instantly springs to mind are most likely titles such as Mario and Donkey Kong, which were arguably the advent of popular video games. Like anything, gaming has been made up of many watershed moments like the 1992 introduction of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in console gaming, the popularisation of real time strategies like Age of Empires in 1997, Starcraft in 1998 and the original Warcraft in 1994, which would later evolve into the hugely successful online phenomenon World of Warcraft.
Whilst it might be contentious to utter anything to do with DotA in the same breath as these much loved games, the MOBA is of course a product of all of these predecessing games. Being a mod from Warcraft III, it is fully aware of its history and influences. In the era of online multiplayer gaming, DotA takes elements from RTS, FPS and MMORPG and creates something wholly new. In light of all of the hype and publicity surrounding MOBA games, it is not ridiculous to think of them, and especially DotA, as an era-defining moment in gaming.
In the history of MOBA games, DotA is where it all started. Having paved the way for games that emulate its style like Heroes of Newerth, League of Legends, the upcoming Heroes of the Storm and now Smite being ported to console, the game truly kicked off the MOBA revolution back in 2003.
This trend as only continued as MOBAs consistently pave the way in eSports. It is a genre that has been the first to secure visas for players being regonised as athletes (LoL), the first to have a prize pool that could rival those of mainstream sports, (TI4), the first to offer its players salaries (LoL) and it is the genre that most often occupies the top two spots on Twitch (DotA 2 and LoL). As much as its is a story of creating a genre, it is also a story of what the gaming community can accomplish.
The fact that a lone developer who made a mod for a Blizzard game has had his little project spiral into a record breaking eSport is really a hallmark of the online video game age. In many ways, DotA is a culmination of years of huge strides forward in online gaming, combining the community shaped platform with strategy games. Whether it was at the right place at the right time, or is some spark of gaming wizardry is debatable and largely unimportant. What really matters is the fact that DotA should and probably will be remembered as a landmark moment in the history of gaming.
The success of TI4 and all of DotA’s recent accomplishments should not be celebrated in isolation. The real purpose of evaluating the game in context of the history of gaming and eSports is to show that DotA is a part of a global phenomena. If it hasn’t already, then surely the game is well on its way to appreciation at the highest level video games can offer. Not only will DotA flourish as an eSport seeing more and more tournaments taking place around the world, but it has the real possibility of competitive video games being considered sports and no longer requiring the ‘e’.
It has the chance to act as an ambassador and as a pioneer into the new world, leading the geeky, online world into the mainstream masses. Not only is DotA a landmark MOBA, a record breaking eSport, but it also deserves to cement its place in the video game history books.
Steam chart: Source
PC Gamer: Source
New York Times: Source
