Blizzard: Valve Shouldn't Trademark DotA

[JerrytheBullfrog]

Sorry Blizz, you sold your soul to Activision and Bobby Kotick. You no longer get to ***** about corporate douchery. Consider this just a fraction of a fraction of the bad karma that Activision has coming to bite them squarely in the ass.

Yes, because Blizzard's original parent company Vivendi decided to merge its gaming division, including Blizzard, with Activision, this means they can't call someone else on a bullshit decision?

wtf?

Sounds to me like he's pissed that he didn't think of it first...

Which is why they're releasing their own Blizzard All-Stars for free and not trademarking the idea, yeah?

Can we stop the knee-jerk reactions people? This is just silly

 

[Rogun11]

I like the sound of where this is going. From what ive seen from concept art from valve it seems to be just a clone of the wc3 dota. Obviously things could change but its not looking good.

 

[ImprovizoR]

If Valve doesn't Blizzard will. I would let Valve handle DoTA before Blizzard any day. Valve will make free stuff for it, Blizzard would make you pay for everything. Valve just has a better community. Maybe it's not the right thing to do if you concentrate on the moment. But it's the best thing and future will show that Valve is right to do this.

You... know the great irony in this is that Blizzard has already announced that not only will Blizzard DotA be a free game, they'll be supporting it for free after release? And Valve's DotA 2 will almost certainly be a game you need to pay to buy?

This post is hilariously ignorant.

I wasn't aware of that. Are they talking about a standalone version of DoTA, or mod?

From this site's front page [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/104629-BlizzCon-2010-Blizzard-Adding-L4D-DotA-to-StarCraft-2], it looks like it's a free mod to SC2, like DotA was a WC3 mod.

I still prefer a standalone game to a mod. But I gotta try that SC2 DoTA. Sounds sweet.

 

[UnravThreads]

I'm not taking sides in this, mainly because I've not played DotA, but I've got these views:

I don't think Valve are in the wrong. That name was floating about and they took it. Warcraft 3 came out forever ago, and Blizzard (And the various communities around DotA) have had years to pick up the name legally. If any publisher/studio could put time and money into it, it's Valve. Look at Portal - That started life as an indie project and thanks to Valve, it became a cult hit. Look at CS - That started as a mod, and has grown into one of the most successful FPS games of all time, again, thanks to Valve.

But in a way I can see Blizzard's point. It's something strongly associated with Blizzard, even if just for the fact it was created within a Blizzard game. However, if they were as "about the community" as they say, then they would do more than kick up a hissy fit about it.

Basically, I have to side with the "Blizzard are pissy because Valve got it" people. But I believe that Valve could pull this off, and I wouldn't trust Blizzard to do it at all. They're too busy with WoW, SC2, Diablo 3, probably a bunch of other projects and filling Kotick's coffers.

 

[AngryMongoose]

Do you have a flag?

 

[Tanfastic]

Valve valve valve, I always knew something absurd and uncalled for would come from you.

Just change the name... HoN, LoL, and more are out there. Blizz has their DotA for SC2, and there's the original for WC3... If you go by trademarking this name you'll be taking credit for Blizzards engine and the hard work from its creators.

 

[GoGo_Boy]

Sorry Blizz, you sold your soul to Activision and Bobby Kotick. You no longer get to ***** about corporate douchery. Consider this just a fraction of a fraction of the bad karma that Activision has coming to bite them squarely in the ass.

Yes, because Blizzard's original parent company Vivendi decided to merge its gaming division, including Blizzard, with Activision, this means they can't call someone else on a bullshit decision?

wtf?

Sounds to me like he's pissed that he didn't think of it first...

Which is why they're releasing their own Blizzard All-Stars for free and not trademarking the idea, yeah?

Can we stop the knee-jerk reactions people? This is just silly

We're on some random INet forum with 90% fanboys and haters who are immune to any arguments. It's... just pointless.

People say "Blizzard just announced a free Starcraft 2 DotA Mod and never even attempted to trademark this name for obvious reasons (let's be honest, people would've hated them if they did so anyways ;P)".

Next comment:
"Oh god Activision Blizz Kotick wants to rape our wallets and sell their own DotA for big bucks lolz. Too late bitches, Valve's the man!"

Edit:
CONFIRMED

Which is why they're releasing their own Blizzard All-Stars for free and not trademarking the idea, yeah?

They can afford to what with the Starcraft 2 cheaters they're suing.

 

[JerrytheBullfrog]

Since CS and DoD both started out as mods for HL and then Valve hired the guys who made them then trademarked the names I think they are quite within their rights to Trademark DotA as they hired the guy who originally created the mod and he now heads up the Dev team responsible for DotA 2.

Blizzard should have hired him first and then there would be no dispute.

Just my 2 cents

Half-Life: a Valve game.

War3: A Blizzard game. DotA was made by the Blizzard community. This isn't Valve hiring someone out from their community, this is them stealing the name from some other community entirely. It's disgusting.

Yes but TF was a quake mod and Valve developed it into one of the best Multiplayer games of all time and they are still updating it today.

They will do the same with DotA 2 just watch and see.

Valve has made one excellent multiplayer game, TF2. I'm not arguing that.

Blizzard has made at least six excellent multiplayer games. WC2, SC1, D2, WC3, WoW, SC2. The last five are still being updated, and with the exception of WoW, all the updates are for free. Blizzard is now adding four free new games to SC2, one of which is an (apparently awesome) take on DotA.

Sorry, I think I'll take the guys who make fantastic multiplayer in three different genres over the guy who just happen to make good FPS games.

Valve did not just make one excellent Multiplayer game they hired 3 separate Dev teams, The TF guys, The CS guys and The DoD guys to make 3 EXCELLENT multiplayer games and now they have decided to recruit Icefrog to help create DotA 2 in the Source Engine just like the Dev teams above and CS is still the Quintessential Multiplayer game of all time and it pays the highest out in E-Sport leagues.

TF2 has been updated 120 times since release 3 years and 13 days ago just think what DotA 2 updates will be like since most of the new TF2 maps are COMMUNITY based.

Yes, Valve makes CS and DoD. Those are "pretty good" multiplayer games, not "excellent" ones. TF2 is the only excellent multiplayer game Valve has. And guess what, they're STILL all FPS games. Valve hasn't shown any capability to make games that aren't FPSes, so I'll believe it when I see it.

And CS the quintessential multiplayer game of all time? Lol, have you SEEN Starcraft tournaments? StarCraft is THE e-sport.

Blizzard does multiplayer better than anyone else. Valve makes great singleplayer experiences (HL2, Portal) and one awesome multiplayer (TF2). I know who my money is on.

Yeah Starcraft is a massive E-Sport......In SOUTH KOREA!!!! CS is still the big Draw to Western E-Sport leagues with TF2 following close second.

You obviously haven't been following the MLG recently. Just look at the BlizzCon tournaments and whatever it was where that Fruit dealer guy won hundreds of thousands of dollars in an international tournament.

CS is old hat.

 

[Nifty]

Which is why they're releasing their own Blizzard All-Stars for free and not trademarking the idea, yeah?

They can afford to what with the Starcraft 2 cheaters they're suing.

 

[Skizle]

If Valve doesn't Blizzard will. I would let Valve handle DoTA before Blizzard any day. Valve will make free stuff for it, Blizzard would make you pay for everything. Valve just has a better community. Maybe it's not the right thing to do if you concentrate on the moment. But it's the best thing and future will show that Valve is right to do this.

OK first off, what about League of Legends or Hero's of Newerth. Blizzard knew that these games were being developed and have done nothing to collect royalties from them even to this day. Secondly Valve will charge you for Dota2 because of how much content there is, so expect anywhere from a $9.99 - $19.99 price tag. On a last note Icefrog has tried to shut down Hon in the past I think (or another DotA clone I don't remember) and couldn't pull it off. Now that Valve is backing him he could have all other similar games to shut down once Valve gets the licence. Also nobody apparently likes Icefrog from what I read; Tskr s look for yourself. http://icefrogtruth.blogspot.com/

 

[Kurokami]

I would think that the name DotA needs to remain in the public domain. That being said, all Valve has to do to complete their trademark without interference is change the name a little bit. Like, "Defense of the Almighty," or, "Protection of the Ancients." Yea, whatever. It's not like LoL or HoN have lost any customers because of their name changes.

But they claim their games to be 'DotA' non-the-less. If it were trademarked by another company I'm not sure they could say "it's like DotA..." or something of the like.

Got to agree with Blizzard at this point, mostly because if anyone should have the ability to trademark it, it should be the original creator(s) of DotA, not some companys.

Valve's gonna drop it, I'm sure.

 

[JerrytheBullfrog]

I'm not taking sides in this, mainly because I've not played DotA, but I've got these views:

I don't think Valve are in the wrong. That name was floating about and they took it. Warcraft 3 came out forever ago, and Blizzard (And the various communities around DotA) have had years to pick up the name legally. If any publisher/studio could put time and money into it, it's Valve. Look at Portal - That started life as an indie project and thanks to Valve, it became a cult hit. Look at CS - That started as a mod, and has grown into one of the most successful FPS games of all time, again, thanks to Valve.

But in a way I can see Blizzard's point. It's something strongly associated with Blizzard, even if just for the fact it was created within a Blizzard game. However, if they were as "about the community" as they say, then they would do more than kick up a hissy fit about it.

Basically, I have to side with the "Blizzard are pissy because Valve got it" people. But I believe that Valve could pull this off, and I wouldn't trust Blizzard to do it at all. They're too busy with WoW, SC2, Diablo 3, probably a bunch of other projects and filling Kotick's coffers.

But what about when Blizz's point is that NO company should have the name of a community created thing? You say that Blizzard had years to pick up DOTA trademark, but this stance here is that they didn't want to because they thought it belonged to their community.

And anyone who says "they're only developing their DotA now because of Valve" is full of crap. From what I've heard there's no way this was developed in only a few weeks.

 

[Ghengis John]

Ahahaha... ahahahaaaa... The company that charges people 30 bucks for an in-game mount now thinks it can dole out advice on business ethics. Too rich.

Odds are good this simply upset their own plans in some way.

 

[JerrytheBullfrog]

Which is why they're releasing their own Blizzard All-Stars for free and not trademarking the idea, yeah?

They can afford to what with the Starcraft 2 cheaters they're suing.

Waaaaah, a company is suing people who are developing illegal hacks to their game waaaaaaaaaah.

 

[matrix3509]

I actually disagree with both companies on this issue. Blizzard says that Valve shouldn't get to own the DoTA name, and while they are technically correct, DoTA is no longer just a name. DoTA has now become so widespread in the culture now that DoTA is a completely separate genre now, and you cannot own a a genre.

A rough equivalent would be if the makers of Wolfenstein 3D thought the makers of every other FPS ever made were dicks because they copied Wolfenstein's gameplay. That makes no sense because the genre has evolved so much since then, it is almost unrecognizable.

So, TL;DR Valve has every right to make a DoTA game, but trying to trademark something that has evolved to basically become its own genre is kinda stupid. Also, Blizzard should just chill.

 

[JerrytheBullfrog]

Ahahaha... ahahahaaaa... The company that charges people 30 bucks for an in-game mount now thinks it can dole out advice on business ethics. Too rich.

For an optional in-game mount of their own design. People can buy it if they want to. I played wow for five years, didn't think it was worth it, I DIDN'T BUY IT and my game experience was just fine.

There's nothing unethical about that.

As opposed to... stealing the name from a community project. That's pretty shady.

 

[Crasha]

A lot of the comments here make it seem like Valve just now pulled this 'stunt', however they applied for this trademark months ago, however, just now, with DotA 2 being announced, a week ago, and now Blizzard DotA, Blizzard decide to take action against it.

 

[Rogun11]

Think its retaliation for the l4d mod in SC2?

 

[JerrytheBullfrog]

A lot of the comments here make it seem like Valve just now pulled this 'stunt', however they applied for this trademark months ago, however, just now, with DotA 2 being announced, a week ago, and now Blizzard DotA, Blizzard decide to take action against it.

Blizzard hasn't tried to "take action" against it. A Blizzard rep was asked by a publication what they thought about Valve DotA. They answered honestly, that they thought it was shady.

Christ, is it too much to ask that people actually learn what's going on before spouting off?

 

[Canid117]

Activision Blizzard doesn't think its the right thing to do? hahahahahahhahahahaha Christ..

No this is just the Blizzard side they are still a bunch of cool guys.

OT: I highly doubt that Valve wants to get into a fight over this with Blizzard. They are both massive companies but as a certain contributor pointed out Blizzard is just one side of the ABlizz coin and this could turn really nasty for both parties really quick. I say Valve only trademarks it's sequel to Dota and let the communities make their own.