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Gabe Newell’s Dota 2 Will Be Featured in a Netflix Anime

DOTA: Dragon’s Blood premieres on March 25th on Netflix and this is Valve’s biggest PR stunt for the game... Radu M. | 4. March 2021

DOTA: Dragon’s Blood premieres on March 25th on Netflix and this is Valve’s biggest PR stunt for the game since The International 1. Everyone remembers how in a world of tiny prize pools, Gabe Newell introduced a tournament that made its winner a millionaire. In the decade that passed since then, the amount went from $1.6 to $40 million. So who knows? Perhaps The International 2021 will receive even more attention than the upcoming Netflix Anime. But no doubt, this series is bound to get a lot of people watching and discovering Dota 2.

DOTA: Dragon’s Blood

DOTA: Dragon’s Blood is an Anime centered around the well-known Dota 2 hero called Dragon Knight. This hero is famous for his tankiness but also for his skillset. His ultimate ability, Elder Dragon Form, allows him to transform into a dragon for an entire minute. At level 1 he becomes a Green Dragon, at level 2 a Red Dragon, and at level 3 a Blue Dragon. When he reaches this final form, he’s basically equipped with an Eye of Skadi, slowing enemies’ movement and attack speed by 40% and 40 respectively.

Dragon Knight is played as a midlaner, which is pretty much the star of the show in a Dota 2 game along with the carry. The other team roles are less spectacular. In that sense, the Anime picked a suitable protagonist and should be fun to watch. Other heroes present in the trailer are Mirana, Luna, and Invoker.

Dragon’s Blood Trailer

One thing that we can tell from the YouTube trailer is that the lore of these heroes is used extensively in the story. For instance, there’s talk of Selemene, the Goddess of the Moon, who is known in the game to have chosen and invited Luna to join the Dark Moon and become a guardian of the Nightsilver Woods.

Another important character in the story is Invoker. This is perhaps the most difficult hero to master in the game, being able to cast 10 different spells and play almost any role as a result. Dragon’s Blood trailer seems to paint him as the antagonist, but we’ll have to wait and see.

In the game, Invoker is known as a powerful wizard who has been around for millennia, a prodigy of vast intellect and terrifying abilities. What makes him a great villain is his arrogance. So I do expect DOTA: Dragon’s Blood to use that narrative line. But in what way? I couldn’t say.

Dragon Knight’ Lore

Back to our main protagonist, Dragon Knight, in the game he is practically a warrior who once found an old, dying dragon called Slyrak. Seeing his poor condition, Davion (Dragon Knight’s real name) decided to let him die in peace. But the dragon invaded his thoughts and asked him to fight.

The confrontation climaxed in Davion piercing the dragon with his blade but being wounded by him at the same time. The blood of the two combined and Slyrak decided to reward his foe for agreeing to fight by offering him his ancient power and centuries of wisdom. And that his how Davion became Dragon Knight.

How much of this lore will be preserved and how the different stories of the game characters will merge in the Anime is yet to be revealed. All we know for now is that the show looks very well-produced.

The characters seem beautifully brought to life, the action is exciting, the voices are great and there are even subtle jokes being made. For instance (spoiler alert), Mirana drinks with Dragon Knight ahead of an important event, but she does in a totally hilarious way. You’ll have to watch the trailer to understand why.

Community Reaction

So far, the reaction from Dota 2 players has been positive and I can see why. Everything looks great. The trailer has 1.2 million views right now and the percentage of people who liked it is around 98%.

Potential Impact on the Game

Overall, there’s an epic feeling in the air and the story looks extremely promising. At past TI events, video editing competitions took place almost every year (in the last 4 at least). Companies and individuals were invited to create something original using the game’s heroes and lore and send their videos to the organizers. The best competitors received important prizes and as it seems, have inspired an Anime series that will be featured on Netflix!

I’m curious how many non-Dota 2 players will watch the show and whether or not this Anime will have an impact on the game’s player base. Right now, on average, around 400,000 people play Dota 2 at any given time.

The community as a whole has around 7-8 million players. That’s much less than what we had 4-5 years ago, when the number was substantially bigger (around 13 million). But it’s still a good number and it’s clear that the people who play the game enjoy it quite a bit and truly have a lot of love for it. That’s why the prizes of The International are so spectacular. More than 95% of the prize pool represents the community’s contribution.

 

Photo credit: Valve