 As part of a plan to develop Dota 2 into a social network , Newell announced in April 2012 that the game would be free @-@ to @-@ play , and that community contributions would be a cornerstone feature . That June , the Dota 2 team confirmed that the full roster of heroes and items would remain available without charge . Instead , revenue is generated through the Dota Store , which offers for @-@ purchase exclusively cosmetic virtual goods , including custom clothing and weapons for their heroes , along with music packs by notable artists such as electronic music artist <unk> , Taiwanese songwriter <unk> Lin , and video game composers Chance Thomas , Jeremy <unk> , and Lennie Moore . Until the game 's official release in 2013 , players were able to purchase an early access bundle , which included a digital copy of Dota 2 and several cosmetic items . Included as optional downloadable content ( DLC ) , the Dota 2 Workshop Tools are a set of Source 2 software development kit ( <unk> ) tools that allow content creators to create new cosmetics for the heroes themselves , as well as custom game modes and maps . <unk> rated cosmetics , through the Steam Workshop , are available in the in @-@ game store if they are accepted by Valve . This model was fashioned after that of Valve 's Team Fortress 2 , which had earned Workshop designers of cosmetic items of that game over $ 3 @.@ 5 million by June 2011 . In January 2014 , Newell revealed that the average Steam Workshop contributor for Dota 2 and Team <unk> 2 made approximately $ 15 @,@ 000 from their creations the previous year . In 2015 , sales of Dota 2 cosmetics had earned Valve over $ 238 million in revenue , according to the digital game market research group <unk> . 
