DotA 2 breaks player records after official release

While it's still got a way to go to topple the current player-numbers king of MOBAs, League of Legends, with its 30 million or so monthly players, DotA 2 had a big upsurge in the wake of its official release, seeing a new record of four million monthly total players this month – and of course, we're only half through it.

This is a one million increase over the previous highest player numbers, of around three million, which peaked during the two year beta. However with over four million this soon out the gate, it seems likely that we're just getting started in terms of DotA 2 growth.

The player numbers are growing right alongside the impressive prize pool

With so many other MOBAs out there already though, if Valve wants to increase its player numbers though, it's biggest market is going to be from other MOBA titles. League of Legends is perhaps the largest pool it could draw from, but there's also the original DotA which still sees decent numbers. Attracting gamers away from their chosen title won't be easy, but the continued success of DotA 2 puts it in good stead to draw away the malcontent.

The introduction of various community facets and the way prize pools for competitions keep getting bigger, mirrors Riot's own tactics for growth with League of Legends and should also help bring in new players too.

Whether the game will ever reach the heady heights that LoL has, remains to be seen.

KitGuru Says: What do you guys think? Will DotA 2 ever break through and become more popular than LoL? [Thanks PcGamesN]

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