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Blizzard DOTA changed to Blizzard All-Stars

Brendan Sinclair
By Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor

Company changes name to resolve trademark dispute with Valve; Blizzard allowed to keep using the DOTA name only for noncommercial use for the player community.

Blizzard DOTA is now Blizzard All-Stars, the name change stemming from Valve and Blizzard's recent dispute over rights to the DOTA name. As part of the resolution, Valve will keep using the DOTA 2 name for its in-development game, while Blizzard's continued use of DOTA will be limited to noncommercial use for the Warcraft III and Starcraft II communities.

This image is now out of date.

This image is now out of date.

Blizzard executive VP of game design Rob Pardo explained the change in a statement, saying, "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. As part of this agreement, we're going to be changing the name of Blizzard DOTA to Blizzard All-Stars, which ultimately better reflects the design of our game. We look forward to going into more detail on that at a later date."

For Valve's side of the story, co-founder Gabe Newell said, "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 dispute started in November, when Blizzard filed a notice of opposition with the US Patent and Trademark Office to Valve's promotion of DOTA 2. The DOTA name comes from a Warcraft III mod called Defense of the Ancients. In its opposition, Blizzard states that the DOTA name "for more than seven years has been used exclusively by Blizzard and its fan community, under license from Blizzard" and that Valve filed its trademark on the name "in order to confuse consumers as to Blizzard's sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of Valve's products." In Valve's response, the company said that Blizzard cannot claim exclusive rights to the name and that its own rights to DOTA are senior to any claims made by Blizzard.

Both Valve and Blizzard have said they aren't planning to release further details about the agreement.

Brendan Sinclair
By Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor

Brendan Sinclair has been a games journalist since 1999. His tastes are eclectic, though he has a definite affinity for games with arcade roots. He's Canadian, but has also been at home in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco.

35 comments
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riss37
riss37

this blizzard allstar doesn't have the dota feeling anymore, its like they're just putting random shits into one game juz cuz they don't want to lose to valve

Whitewind617
Whitewind617

Whatevs. It's just a name after all.

 

Anyone who's actually upset about this though probably shouldn't blame Valve. The one to blame is Icefrog for going behind everyone's back like that.

N0tYrBeezin
N0tYrBeezin

I say the community won back the name. Had Blizzard not challenged this, the DotA name would be gone from the community and ended up in Valve's pocket.

Richardthe3rd
Richardthe3rd

Blizzard made the right move here and I'm glad to see it.

 

If they'd have scooped up the DoTA name when they had it in their pond then this would be a non-issue, and Valve might not even be making DoTA2 now.  They passed and because of that Valve deserves the name.

 

It's good to see they've made the right move.  I'm a fan of both companies and it's good to see them playing nice with each other.

ferofax
ferofax

Why all the fuss for DotA when the real crux here would be AoS (or Aeon of Strife)?I prefer if Blizzard made an official Aeon of Strife map. that battle was epic. 

Grovilis
Grovilis

Respectable move, Blizzard. Like another poster said, though, was All-Stars really all that they could come up with? Games that include that phrase in their titles are typically rather poor quality.

King-gamer
King-gamer

Cross over? Put all-stars in the title!

 

Tatsunoko vs Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

Blizzard All-Stars

 

Yeah, can't wait for what's next. :)

TheRez
TheRez

So, Blizz and Valve both decided to give up the lawsuit when their lawyers all found out the the name DOTA actually belongs to the folks working at Riot Games.  This way they both still have partial claims to the name, instead of it going to court and the judge ruling neither one could use the name.

riss37
riss37

 @TheRez the name is owned by Icefrog who and founder of dota and is now working with valve

ea_goodandy
ea_goodandy

 @TheRez Huh? Valve can still use the name. Riot Games doesn't own the name at all.

Wladxq
Wladxq like.author.displayName 1 Like

blizz and valve should have played a match of dota 1 and who wins keep the name. and if they are not any good at this game they could hire the best players in the world to fight for them xD

arkainjalex
arkainjalex like.author.displayName 1 Like

I don't care much for Valve or Blizzard these days. They both take forever to bring out new games/sequels which aren't even worth the wait. If I had to comment though, Valve are douches for trademarking the DOTA name when it was something that spawned off of Warcraft 3. They know they are too, but they made a smart business move (which they had to, considering they barely make games anymore) so I guess we can't fault them for that.

mellow87
mellow87

 @arkainjalex Are you retarded? Icefrog is Lead Designer behind Dota 2, and Dota 2 is a direct extension of Dota (same heroes, same items, same gameplay concept, only better in every way)

 

And barely making games anymore? LOL

staranise
staranise like.author.displayName 1 Like

DoTa 2 FTW! hehehehehe...i`ll stick to the remake.......

SKA_
SKA_

fitting, neither game is based off the actual DOTA. both are based off the knock-off all-stars.

Link3301
Link3301 like.author.displayName 1 Like

 @SKA_ 

Well, DOTA Allstars is the most popular version of DOTA. Plus, DOTA 2's is being made by icefrog, who was the guy who was in charge of DOTA Allstars for the past several years.

solid_snake1461
solid_snake1461 like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

I don't care about these companies petty fights. As long as they're making good games, that's fine by me.

EXODYS
EXODYS

Call it what you will, still looking forward to this.

Encephlon
Encephlon

All Stars though? That's a pretty bad replacement name

Link3301
Link3301

 @Encephlon I find it pretty fitting, considering that the game is going to be a bunch of Blizzard heroes fighting DOTA style.

djwood84
djwood84 like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

At least Valve was classy enough to realize that DOTA is a term that the community owns first and foremost.  Good move by both companies to sidestep an unnecessary headache. 

Frozensky
Frozensky like.author.displayName 1 Like

Seems like a pretty meaningless thing to escalate, and I guess both parties realized that. Good for them for not turning the dispute into some kind of ridiculous blood feud.

 

(Leave that to the fanboys.)

dude_182
dude_182

Ill stick to dota 2 thanks

KruzaderNKat
KruzaderNKat like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

All-stars? That's the best they could come up with?

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