Blizzard and Valve settle DOTA dispute

Blizzard and Valve have come to an agreement concerning the upcoming release of DOTA 2.  The two companies have come to a “mutual agreement” that allows Valve to title its game Defense of the Ancients, while Blizzard will title its DOTA style game “Blizzard All-stars”.

Defense of the Ancients started out as a fan-made mode for Warcraft 3.  Icefrog, the creator of the mod, has since been hired on by Valve to work on the DOTA 2 project. Valve’s Gabe Newell expressed his thoughts on the agreement: “We’re pleased that we could come to an agreement with Blizzard without drawing things out in a way that would benefit no one.”  Valve’s DOTA 2 is due out next year, and is currently in beta on Steam.

Blizzard All-Stars doesn’t have a release window as of yet, but Blizzard says “We look forward to going into more detail on that at a later date.”