If you are a DOTA 2 player, then you would have been familiar with DOTA Auto Chess. It’s a highly popular mod to the game that had risen to the ranks for quite some time. Combining the mechanics of chess and the strategies of card games, DOTA Auto Chess is now looking to be an official standalone game on the Steam store.
Valve reveals in an official blog post that they had been in talks with Drodo, Studio, the makers of the popular mod, since February. However, despite talks going on for a long time, no official decision of collaboration could be taken. Valve had eventually agreed to build a DOTA Auto Chess version of their own, with progress of existing players carrying over. This decision does not come as a surprise, since Artifact, popularly dubbed as “The DOTA 2 Card Game” had flopped pretty hard. DOTA Auto Chess is even called “the joyful DOTA 2 game that Artifact isn’t” by PC Gamer.
. “We appreciate the great encouragements, support and help that Valve offered on DOTA Auto Chess and Drodo’s standalone game. Valve has been a great company, who gave birth to the Steam Platform and open community like Workshop, enabling millions of players to display their talents. Being a fan of DOTA 2, we have great confidence in Valve’s new game, and expect the next world-class game. In the meantime, with Valve’s support, Drodo will continue updating the DAC mod, and attempt to design new modes and adaptations in our stand-alone game. We endeavor to offer more to you, all the fans that like Auto Chess. Thank you, it’s you that are making this possible. We look forward to growing together!” said Drodo Studios,They have been working on a mobile game at the moment, and they did not issue a clear statement on why they didn’t want to develop a standalone version of the game under Valve.