DOTA 2 headed to Japan, Korea through Nexon

Valve has teamed up with MMORPG publisher Nexon to bring DOTA 2 to Japan and Korea.

Nexon's Tokyo office announce the collaboration, which will see the Korean company publishing the MOBA in both eastern territories. It's only the latest in a string of agreements between the two companies; Nexon has a number of free-to-play games on Valve's Steam service, and at one point, was believed to be trying to buy 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,: Valve boss Gabe Newell said.

"Partnering with Nexon will allow us to deliver Dota 2 to a massive audience of Asian gamers via a premium service.”

Nexon representatives said the company is "very excited" to give Japanese and Korean gamers a chance to play DOTA 2, which they described as a "highly successful franchise" with "worldwide momentum".

Other western companies have been equally keen on Nexon; it published EVE Online in Japan, for example. One of the first major free-to-play publishers, Nexon went public late last year for a whopping $1.2 billion.