Auto Chess, the wildly popular mod for Dota 2, is going independent. Announced today during the PC Gaming Show at E3 2019, development is progressing on a standalone version of Auto Chess created by Drodo Studios, the original creators behind the Dota 2 Auto Chess mod. The game is being made with support from Dragonest, a Chinese publishing company, and ImbaTV, which is helping to build a major eSports league with a million dollar prize pool.

For those unfamiliar, Auto Chess is an indirect competitive multiplayer game where players recruit units to "auto battle" their opponent's units over a series of rounds. Each round provides every player with the opportunity to recruit new units or strengthen those they already have. The "chess-like" strategy comes down to selecting a squad of units that empower each other, while also taking advantage of each opponents' squad's weaknesses without leaving bare a weakness of your own.

But the heart of Auto Chess' success has been its unique ranked system. Players who are successful at Auto Chess climb the ranks while losers fall below. This kind of highly competitive matchmaking mixed with a more relaxed and strategic indirect style of competition has made Auto Chess stand out. Being a Dota 2 mod, however, has been limiting to development. As such, a standalone version with larger aspirations has always been inevitable.

A major part of today's Auto Chess announcement is confirmation that the game will be exclusive to the Epic Games Store, cementing the future rivalry between Valve and Epic for control of the new "auto chess" genre. Valve and Drodo had previously been in communication to create a standalone game with the Dota 2 branding, but negotiations fell through. Valve was even quoted as saying that it could not "work directly with each other for a variety of reasons." Valve has since revealed that it's working on its own standalone auto chess game.

Auto Chess has no currently announced release window but will be exclusive to the Epic Games Store on PC.

Source: PC Gamer