Dota 2 was confirmed as a free-to-play game by Valve on Thursday who also announced that the game will come with an in-game store plus support Steam Workshop for players to create and share their own content for the MOBA title.
Not only is Dota 2 free but all of the heroes are free and unlocked from the very beginning and items are earnable in-game. The goal is to put all the players on equal footing so the game doesn't become pay-to-win.
Since Dota 2 has to make money somehow, it will come with an in-game store that is full of cosmetic character customizations that don't affect their performance in matches. Not only will Valve release custom content but fans will have the opportunity to create their own content and upload it via the Steam Workshop. The development team will then take the best of these uploads and release them as official parts of the game that can be purchased with the original creator getting a cut.
According to Valve, over $3.5 million was paid out to Team Fortress 2 fans who created in-game content for the free-to-play shooter in the first year alone.
Dota 2 is currently in beta with a release planned sometime this year. You can check out some of the fan creations for the game already in the Dota 2 Steam Workshop.
http://www.examiner.com/article/dota-2-confirmed-as-free-to-play-title-gets-steam-workshop-support
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