Dota: Dragon’s Blood – A Lesson in Esports Marketing

Dota 2 is one of the most prestigious games in the esports industry. Its roots go back to Warcraft 3, which was released more than 20 years ago. Eventually, Valve Corporation took its famous mod, DotA, and turned it into what we now call Dota 2.

But over the years, Valve’s involvement in promoting their MOBA game was modest at best. The company did not bother to do much to compete against Riot Games and their MOBA, League of Legends. As a result, LoL’s community grew to over 100 million people while Dota’s has never surpassed 15 million.

At its peak, Dota 2 was played by around 13-14 million. Today, the game’s community numbers around 8 million, many of whom are in their late twenties. That’s why DOTA: Dragon’s Blood is such an important anime from a marketing perspective.

How Dota 2 Maintains Its Player Base

Apart from the word-of-mouth method, Dota 2 grows primarily thanks to its esports scene and professional players like Michal “Nisha” Jankowski. The Dota Pro Circuit features four important tournaments each year: 3 Majors and The International, which is the game’s world championship.

All of these competitions capture the attention of hundreds of thousands of fans. Furthermore, Valve likes to hold them in different locations each year. So the action is not restricted to places like Germany, the US, or China. The game is being played and watched in six major regions:

• North America
• South America
• Western Europe
• Eastern Europe
• China
• Southeast Asia

Whenever a tournament takes place in one of these regions, thousands of people see it live, many more watch it on Twitch, and the uninitiated discover this beautiful MOBA. Arguably, Dota 2 is the best game in this genre, at least from an esports perspective.

League of Legends is also fun to play, but it’s not as exciting to watch because it’s too simple and too predictable.

Without its tournaments and natural qualities, Dota 2 would have died a long time ago because for many years, there was no marketing initiative on Valve’s part. The company, for reasons that nobody can understand, decided to just watch and see what happens.

For anyone who thinks in standard business patterns, the fact that this game is still alive more than a decade after its official release is a complete miracle. Those who know its esports history and play it frequently with their friends understand why there’s still a fairly large Dota 2 community these days despite Valve’s lack of involvement.

The Popularity of Anime in Today’s World

Anime or Japanese-style cartoons and animated films are extremely famous these days, thanks in part to the huge success of past series like Naruto. Young people try to stay up to date with the latest anime and are willing to watch at least a few episodes from a new series, especially if that series has gained a lot of popularity.

In the case of Dota: Dragon’s Blood, we can’t say that the show is as popular as the really famous ones, but it still has more than 21.000 votes on IMDB and a rating of 7.7 out of 10. That’s not bad at all. And it received a pretty good review from a lot of its viewers.

Anime capture the imagination of the new generations with their ridiculously powerful characters who strive to survive and achieve their high ambitions in a world full of dangers and obstacles. At a young age, everyone goes through this process, which is why they’re so relatable.

The Success of Dota: Dragon’s Blood

Dota: Dragon’s Blood is a Netflix anime series based on Dota 2. So far, it’s had three seasons and all of them were well received. The main character of the show is the Dragon Knight Davion, who is based on the in-game character with the same name and his lore.

Davion’s Lore

In Dota 2, Davion is a Dragon Knight who used to be a simple knight. But then he killed a dragon that had grown too old and too weak to pose any real threat. Initially, Davion did not want to kill the beast, seeing no honor in slaying it. But after receiving a plea from Slyrak, he agreed to commit this deed as an act of mercy.

Upon killing his foe, Davion received a wound and his blood mingled with the beast’s. In the process, the knight received the dragon’s strength and centuries of wisdom, as well as the power to transform into himself a dragon.

In the game, this transformation constitutes Dragon Knight’s ultimate ability and it can be very powerful, especially after level 18 is reached and an Aghanim’s Scepter is purchased. This Elder Dragon form goes from green to red, then blue, and finally to black, the last one being the most potent.

Anyone who has played the hero or against him understands just how powerful he can be once he reaches his full strength. But he is also powerful in the early game, thanks to his high armor and HP regeneration.

When Dota: Dragon’s Blood was first announced, everyone was wondering how the artists would create the story based on the lore. Now, three seasons later, we know that they did a pretty good job. The only weak part of the show is the dialog, which isn’t always as good as it could have been.

Important Characters

Without giving too many spoilers, Dota: Dragon’s Blood is full of recognizable characters, such as Mirana, Invoker, Terrorblade, and Marci. All of these characters are pretty popular and powerful in the game, so their depictions had to be good to make an impact on the audience. The battle between them is captivating to watch.

In Marci’s case, we actually had a case of an anime character being introduced into the game after the anime was released, to honor the efforts of the creators. And she’s really powerful.

We don’t often see companies doing such things. Usually, it’s the film that gets based on the game, not the other way around. But Valve has its own way of doing things.

One thing that makes the show captivating is the wise decision-making. Because it’s a dramatized story that involves both protagonists and antagonists, it was very important to cast the right heroes in the right roles. And Dota: Dragon’s Blood did a pretty good job in that regard.

Some characters, like Davion, are rightfully cast as protagonists, while others, such as Terrorblade, are cast as antagonists. Some are somewhere in between.

The Anime’s Impact on the Dota 2 Player Base

Dota 2 is far from being the most played game in esports. Its rivals are much more popular at the moment and they will likely continue to gather more attention for the next 5-10 years. However, this modern multiplayer masterpiece has gained a lot of fans thanks to the anime series that was based on it.

Dota heroes are already captivating thanks to their lore, in-game voice lines and abilities. Their avatars are also extremely memorable. But an anime brings them to life even more, giving new players a feeling of excitement when they compete in their first match.

The gameplay itself is good enough to keep the game alive for years to come. However, it’s not just about staying alive. Any community would like to see its game thriving and becoming more popular. Playing with your friends feels different when you know that you’re part of a community that won’t go extinct anytime soon.

One huge advantage of Dota 2 over other games is that it’s completely free. Apart from having to wait for a few hundred matches until you can play ranked, you can enjoy every single hero right from the start. In LoL, the situation is quite different and you need to spend a lot of money to change it.

Since Dota: Dragon’s Blood was released back in 2021, the game has experienced a significant growth followed by a steady decline. In September 2021, Dota 2 had 391.000 average concurrent players. By November 2022, it had reached 523.000. In July 2023, it had 440.000. The number could increase significantly until 2030.

It all depends on Valve’s business model. If that model will include a bit of advertising, Dota 2 could reach a player base of 15 or even 20 million people.

Next Season?

At the moment, many people are wondering about the future of Dota: Dragon’s Blood. Season 3 (or Book 3) left us with an epic cliffhanger, so in theory there should be at least one more season.

Unfortunately, nobody knows for sure when that season will be released. When an anime based on a video game is released, the artists cannot possibly know in advance how successful it will be. Therefore, they won’t think about the big picture.

Dota: Dragon’s Blood is not one of those shows that have been clearly planned to have 5-10 seasons. It’s getting built as we go along. Because of this, the artists may need more time to do a good job and cannot release new seasons as the fans might wish. They need to do it at their own pace, which is conditioned by their creativity.

Hopefully, we will hear of Davion and Helio Imperium again. When Mirana returns, Dota 2 fans will be ready. Even if it takes a few years.

Header: Netflix, Dota: Dragon's Blood