A warning bell for Dota 2

The world of Esports is evolving as new games with the creation of new games to match the needs of the players. Such cut-throat competition has led to a change in taste for games of many players all across the globe. They are going for new and updated games, keeping aside their beloved titles. But something capricious and distasteful occurred when the biggest Esports title on plant Dota-2 recorded its lowest average player count since 2014.

A multiplayer online battle arena video game, Dota 2 (MOBA) developed by Valve Corporation. It is a sequel to the Defence of the Ancients which was a community created a mod for Blizzard Entertainment Warcraft 3.

The stream charts depict that in October the average player count for Dota 2 dropped below 4,00,000 player mark.

This came as a surprise to Valve which agrees to the stats and feels responsible for the loss. Dota 2 had experienced the peak average player count of around 709,000 in early 2016. This consistently performing MOBA hasn’t seen such devastating results for the past 5 years.

The annual Dota 2 World championship Esports tournament (The International) could not do any good. Its 9th iteration i.e TI 9 concluded with a massive drop. The in game’s player count dropped ranging from – 6.60% in October and – 9.67% in November.

Although this news is not much disturbing it clearly highlights the need for some amelioration. The reason behind this disaster is not much clear. But one thing is sure that inadequate updates or changes have led to disinterest among players.

No significant patch has been launched since before The International in August signifying that the players might face the same set of strong heroes making it monotonous and wearisome. Some players often complain that due to low key patches introduced by Valve, the players are unable to feel that any change has been made at all. However, a new patch is expected within the next few weeks.

The completion of the MDL Chengdu Major that ends on November 24 will mark the beginning of The Outlanders update as promised by Valve.

Dota 2 still remains the second most played game with 371, 324 concurrent players. Valve still has the opportunity to do justice with this game by lending an ear to the players’ grumble. If everything went right then Dota 2 can regain it’s title” impossible to quit once addicted”.

Let’s hope that Valve is the racehorse born for long races.