Valve is making a standalone version of Dota Auto Chess

Valve has announced it will begin working on a standalone version of Dota Auto Chess, a wildly-popular mod created by Drodo Studio. Valve said it and Drodo will continue to “support each other to the fullest.”

After meeting with the Auto Chess creators, it became apparent the two sides could not work with together on the game for a “variety of reasons,” according to Valve. This did not hurt the two parties’ relationship, however, and Valve said it received Drodo’s “blessing” to create a standalone version of the mod.

While Valve creates its own version of Auto Chess, Drodo will be busy working on a mobile version of the game, which does not feature any Dota assets. To further show its support for Drodo, Valve said it is helping Auto Chess players migrate their account progress to Drodo’s mobile game.

“Being a fan of Dota2, we have great confidence in Valve’s new game, and expect the next world-class game,” Drodo Studio said in the blog post. “In the meantime, with Valve’s support, Drodo will continue updating the DAC mod, and attempt to design new modes and adaptations in our stand-alone game.”

This move likely comes as a surprise to many. With the popularity of Auto Chess, many players expected Valve to hire the Drodo staff or integrate the Auto Chess mod into the game officially in some way. But for the “variety of reasons” that Valve cites, Drodo will continue to do its own thing on mobile while Auto Chess seemingly becomes a Valve product.