Dota Underlords, Valve’s free-to-play auto-battling Dota 2 spin-off, will leave early access and begin its first proper season on Steam, iOS, and Android next month, on 25th February.
Valve initially unveiled Dota Underlords back in May last year, following the enormous success of Chinese developer Drodo Studio’s Dota 2 mod, Auto Chess, which had amassed over 8 million players at the time. Although Valve originally approached Drodo to discuss a collaboration, talks proved unfruitful and it was eventually decided that both parties would work on their own standalone auto battler releases.
Drodo launched its standalone Auto Chess game, minus the Dota elements, on mobile and as an Epic Store PC exclusive last summer. Valve’s effort, Dota Underlords, entered early access on Steam and mobile soon after, quickly seeing over 1.5 million downloads.
Source: Eurogamer Valve's auto battler spin-off Dota Underlords leaving early access next month