Valve's next Dota 2 documentary, Free to Play, is almost done, we've learned. They're privately showing it off to "playtesters" all throughout June.


A tipster just passed me this e-mail, which invites screeners to a movie-watching party at Valve's place:


I reached out to Valve marketing boss Doug Lombardi to ask what was going on. His response: "Beta testing the documentary on The International."

The International, of course, is Valve's annual Dota 2 tournament in Seattle, during which players come from all over the world to compete for a giant cash prize.

"But wait a minute," you might be thinking. "Valve released a short documentary about The International back in November. Are they making another one?"


Indeed they are. Says Lombardi: "That was a recap of last year’s event. The documentary is a different thing, and really looks more at the gamers than one specific tourney."

Here's the trailer for the documentary, which Lombardi says is called Free to Play. (You might recall Valve registering the domain freetoplaythemovie.com last December.)

This isn't the only film Valve is making. Earlier this year, Valve boss Gabe Newell and Star Trek director J.J. Abrams announced preliminary plans to make movies based on Portal and Half-Life. They're also working on a Team Fortress 2 short.

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