Mommy and Daddy Quit Fighting: Valve and Blizzard Reach DOTA Agreement

Blizzard mentioned in a press release recently that it has finally come to an agreement with Valve over the rights to the trademark for DOTA.

As the agreement states, Valve has the right to use DOTA commercially, and will continue to do so with DOTA 2. Blizzard on the other hand is allowed noncommercial use of the phrase among its community and fans in regard to modified maps for Warcraft III and StarCraft II.

Blizzard’s upcoming game, previously known as Blizzard DOTA, will now be officially referred to as Blizzard All-Stars, a title that Blizzard VP Rob Pardo says “ultimately better reflects the design of our game.”

“Both Blizzard and Valve recognize that, at the end of the day, players just want to be able to play the games they’re looking forward to, so we’re happy to come to an agreement that helps both of us stay focused on that.”

Gabe Newell of Valve also offered his thoughts:

“We’re pleased that we could come to an agreement with Blizzard without drawing things out in a way that would benefit no one. We both want to focus on the things our fans care about, creating and shipping great games for our communities.”

The companies have no plans to discuss the agreement further, essentially burying the DOTA hatchet.

I think we’re all glad that Mommy and Daddy are done fighting so we can get back to what’s really important —  being complete noobs at our own respective DOTAs.