Valve announced that it is will develop its own version of Dota Auto Chess. Originally developed by Drodo Studio, Dota Auto Chess started as a custom Dota game mode and has since gone on to have as much as 8.5 million subscribers.
In a blog post, Valve revealed that developers at the studio have been playing the game for six months now. Considering that the people at Valve have started to love the team at Drodo, it's no surprise Valve wanted to meet those involved and hope that they can come up with an agreement to work together.
The Dota team at Valve said that after playing Dota Auto Chess "roughly 1 billion times, it was pretty clear that we should reach out to the creators, Drodo Studio, and start a conversation about working together."
Back in February, Valve flew the Drodo team responsible for the game to America. The goal was to discuss the future of Dota Auto Chess and how Valve could collaborate with Drodo for future updates. However, the team revealed that despite the excellent discussion, the two sides "came to the conclusion that Valve and Drodo could not work directly with each other for a variety of reasons." The result was that while Valve and Drodo agreed to continue supporting each other, it would mean that each company would come up with its own stand-alone version of the game.
Drodo is currently working on their own version of the game, but with none the Dota licensing. Their own version is simply called Auto Chess, and is planned to release as a mobile game. The beta is out now.
According to the Drodo team, they appreciate the help and support that Valve promised for Dota Auto Chess, and even the standalone game they are currently developing. Drodo said that as "a fan of Dota 2, we have great confidence in Valve’s new game, and expect the next world-class game." With the support of Valve, Drodo revealed that they plan to continue updating Dota Auto Chess and continue to try and design new modes for its stand-alone game.
