DotA is a WarCraft III scenario that exploded in popularity and became it’s own unique RTS gametype which is commonly used in tournments and played online, and has been expanded on and modified throughout the years. It initially began as a single custom map out of tens of thousands of maps customized and made by fans who sought to maximize their WCIII experience. Over the next few years, DotA fiercely beat its opposition to the ground, and became the #1 undisputed most popular map on WarCraft III, being even more popular than the original game of Warcraft which was developed by the professional team of Blizzard.
It has been 9 years since WCIII came out, and DotA still commends a gaming audience of around 22 million people, which is very impressive. DotA is essentially a free map, people can just download it off the web and play it on Warcraft III. However, Valve (a separate firm from Blizzard) has seen an opportunity to target existing DotA players, which is quite a substantial market. As DotA is not officially affiliated with Blizzard, Valve was able to recruit the developer of DotA by the username IceFrog to work under their firm. As such, DotA 2 is being released, which will not be free but will need to be paid for. Personally I found Valve’s marketing strategy very smart, as they were able to take advantage , of DotA’s popularity, which was party due to its free nature, in order to gain a large segment of new customers. Speaking for myself, I would never pay for another game as I am a university student and do not have too much time for gaming, in contrast to when I was still in high school. However, since I have developed an interest of DotA, I am considering purchasing DotA 2. I am sure this is true for many other DotA fans as well. They are also operating a blog, which is a viral marketing strategy in order to keep in touch with fans. One of the many strengths of the original DotA was its strong fan support and connection with gamers.
