Drodo Studio revealed that the will be turning its Dota Auto Chess into a mobile game. The game will be available for both Android and iOS. The announcement comes as a surprise for fans and players of this Dota 2 mod, as the game recently breached the 6 million user mark just this week. There have even been rumors that Valve could be interested in the mod, with talk of a full-time team being mentioned.
The move to a mobile version is not that surprising considering that Drodo Studio is based in China, where the mobile gaming market continues to grow at an astonishing rate. Drodo Studio has partnered with developer Dragonest for the mobile version. Another reason for the shift could be the fact that being a Dota 2 mod, Auto Chess players would be unable to choose the in-game ranks for matchmaking.
For now, Discord servers are offering players a way to meet and even battle against other players with the same level. There is even a fan-made site named Dota2Chess.com which offers players an automated matchmaking process. The site allows players to link their Steam accounts and then be matched with other players of the same rank.
Drodo Studio did assure players and fans of the game that with the release of the mobile version, support will still continue with the Dota 2 mod version. The mobile version will continue to have the same mechanics as the original game. The studio will also be giving veteran players a reward if they bind their Steam accounts to the upcoming new accounts. So far, there has been around 95,000 pre-registrations for the mobile version.
Don’t worry. We will continue working on Dota 2 version even after this mobile launched. We will update our English website for this mobile version very soon. Thanks for all your love!https://t.co/R5NtB8ZF8U
— drodostudio (@drodostudio) March 14, 2019
The major downside to the move to mobile gaming is that Auto Chess no longer is able to use the well-known Dota 2 characters. In response, Drodo Studio has redesigned many of the characters, giving them a new look while still having that Dota 2 feel.
The sudden surge in the popularity of this Dota 2 mod has been a surprise to many. Drodo Studio has already made full use of this fact by partnering with Imba TV and Douyu TV to come up with the first-ever Dota Auto Chess Competition: Auto Chess All-star Invitational. The influence of Dota Auto Chess has become large enough that PUBG Mobile developer Tencent, and even NetEase, are planning to come up with their own versions.
