DOTA 2 to be released early due to high demand

In a recent blog post, Valve has revealed it will be releasing Dota 2 early due to high demand from gamers.

Valve originally planned that Dota 2 will remain in beta for the next year, adding new features and slowly adding new heroes until it reached a level of parity with Dota 1. But in a turn around, Valve now plans to release Dota 2 as 'early as possible' with The International set of heroes, while shipping regular updates to include new features and more heroes.

In the meantime Dota 2 will remain in an 'invite only' beta with sign ups available through steam.

Source: Dota 2 blog