Valve's auto battler spin-off Dota Underlords leaving early access next month Eurogamer.net If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. Valve's auto battler spin-off Dota Underlords leaving early access next month Exit strategy. News by Matt Wales Reporter Updated on 31 Jan 2020 Dota Underlords, Valve's free-to-play auto-battling Dota 2 spin-off, will leave early access and begin its first proper season on Steam, iOS, and Android next month, on 25th February. Valve initially unveiled Dota Underlords back in May last year, following the enormous success of Chinese developer Drodo Studio's Dota 2 mod, Auto Chess, which had amassed over 8 million players at the time. Although Valve originally approached Drodo to discuss a collaboration, talks proved unfruitful and it was eventually decided that both parties would work on their own standalone auto battler releases. Drodo launched its standalone Auto Chess game, minus the Dota elements, on mobile and as an Epic Store PC exclusive last summer. Valve's effort, Dota Underlords, entered early access on Steam and mobile soon after, quickly seeing over 1.5 million downloads. Since then, Dota Underlords' core eight-player strategy action has been enhanced with the likes of daily challenges, ranked matchmaking, and, almost inevitably, a battle pass - but it's struggled to maintain its initial levels of popularity on Steam, with concurrent players falling from 202,254 at launch to 14,783 in the last 30 days. According to Valve's announcement post, Dota Underlords' full release will introduce "new content with City Crawl, new rewards with a full Battlepass, and a new meta with a Hero/Item rotation". Prior to that, however, Valve has launched one final early access update, adding new fuzzy-faced hero Enno, alongside the usual array of tweaks and changes. Dota Underlords exits early access into what's become an increasingly busy landscape for the auto-battling genre. Alongside the standalone release of Auto Chess (and its still-available Dota mod version), we've also seen the launch of Riot Games' League of Legends spin-off Teamfight Tactics, and Blizzard's auto-battling Hearthstone Battlegrounds mode. Dota Underlords, which features full cross-play between PC and mobile versions, will remain free-to-play when Season 1 begins on 25th February. Become a Eurogamer subscriber and get your first month for £1 Get your first month for £1 (normally £3.99) when you buy a Standard Eurogamer subscription. Enjoy ad-free browsing, merch discounts, our monthly letter from the editor, and show your support with a supporter-exclusive comment flair! Support us View supporter archive More News Splatoon 3 Amiibos will be out next month Ink-coming! 3 Fans think Phil Spencer's shelf is teasing the Xbox Game Pass streaming box UPDATE: Xbox confirms old Keystone prototype. 59 Modder dives into Demon's Souls files following PS5 jailbreak, discovers fabled Ring of the Chieftain Who knows what's nexus? 4 Google announces cloud gaming Chromebooks less than a fortnight after Stadia shutdown GeForce Now preinstalled. 11 Latest Articles Preview Football Manager's new Console edition is the best you'll get without a PC Getting Touch-right. Splatoon 3 Amiibos will be out next month Ink-coming! 3 Fans think Phil Spencer's shelf is teasing the Xbox Game Pass streaming box UPDATE: Xbox confirms old Keystone prototype. 59 Modder dives into Demon's Souls files following PS5 jailbreak, discovers fabled Ring of the Chieftain Who knows what's nexus? 4 Supporters Only Premium only Off Topic: Take a minute to appreciate Cookin' with Coolio's incredible scallops recipe. What a great book. Premium only Off Topic: Reading City of Glass in comic form "Where exactly am I going?" Premium only Off Topic: Il Buco is a transporting film about a really big hole Underlands. Off-Topic Netflix handled Sandman brilliantly It was Dreamy. 9 Buy things with globes on them And other lovely Eurogamer merch in our official store! Explore our store