First released in July 2013, DOTA 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena game that was created as a sequel to Defense of the Ancients (DotA). Published by Valve Corporation, which is also the creator of the gaming platform Steam, DOTA 2 had an estimated 7.6 million monthly active users worldwide in February 2021. The MAU figure peaked back in June 2016, when an average of over 13 million players enjoyed the game every month.
DOTA 2: Steam giant
DOTA 2 is one of the most successful games on Steam. The game reached nearly 795 thousand players in
a single hour in its peak in 2020, beaten only by the battle royale classic, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Cyberpunk 2077, and CSGO. It was also beaten only by CSGO based on the
hourly average number of players on the gaming platform - an impressive 427.99 thousand players enjoyed DOTA 2 on Steam during an average hour in 2020.
DOTA 2 tournaments
The biggest DOTA 2 eSports tournament worldwide is The International. The first edition of the tournament took place during Gamescom in Cologne, Germany back in 2011. The International 2019 was held at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai and was the biggest eSports tournament of all time based on the
overall prize pool of over 34 million U.S. dollars. In fact, all five of the
top eSports tournaments of all time were editions of The International, highlighting its importance in the eSports universe. Given the sums of money up for grabs, it is no wonder that viewers in their millions are engrossed in the action. The International 8 in 2018 attracted approximately
14.96 million concurrent viewers in peak moment. These viewers watched professional DOTA 2 eSports team, OG, take home the grand prize, narrowly beating PSG.LGB in the Grand Finals. The 2020 edition of The International was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is set to take place in Stockholm, Sweden.