Nexon To Publish Dota 2 In Japan and Korea

[Omnomnick]

Valve and Nexon have recently partnered to help move Dota 2 into the Japanese and Korean markets. Nexon is an Asian game developer and publisher who have thrived by creating and publishing free to play titles for large Asian markets in locations such as China and Korea. Gabe Newell announced the partnership earlier this week in an enthusiastic message regarding Nexon and their long standing relationship with Valve.

Nexon, a company with whom we have a long and strong relationship, was clearly the right choice as a publisher to successfully deliver Dota 2 into the Korean and Japanese market. Partnering with Nexon will allow us to deliver Dota 2 to a massive audience of Asian gamers via a premium service.

This wouldn't be the first time Valve has partnered with Nexon in order to bring one of their series to the Asian market, as Nexon published the highly successful free to play adaptation of Counter-Strike in 2008, entitled Counter-Strike: Online. A sequel, Counter-Strike: Online 2, was announced as in development earlier this year. Counter-Strike: Online was a major hit in the Asian market, and we can see the Dota 2 following a similar route to success in the East. Doug Lombardi, Valve's VP of marketing, has previously expressed interest having Dota 2 published in China and other large Asian markets, highlighting it as "mandatory" for the game's success.