Valve has recently announced that its flagship Dota 2 event will remain in Seattle amidst rumours that Donald Trump’s administration could force it elsewhere.
The tournament, which has traditionally been largely crowd-funded boasted the biggest prize pool in esports history last year when it offered over $20,000,000 (£16,000,000). The winners, Wings Gaming took home just over $9,000,000 (£7.23 million) after being crowned champions.
With news of Trump’s potential plans and travel bans, there were rumours that the event may move away from the developer’s home, Seattle, to ensure smooth running of the event. However, fears have been allayed and the dates have been confirmed for the 9th – 12th August.
The Dota 2 calendar has felt less cluttered this year with Valve reducing the number of Majors outside of The International from three to two. Currently twelve of the world’s best teams are competing at the Dota 2 Asia Championships 2017 in Shanghai before the Kiev Major gets Valve run events back underway in the latter part of April.
The news comes as a blow for optimistic European fans who were hoping that the pinnacle of Dota 2 events would head over to this side of the pond. There’s no doubt that the production value tends to improve year on year and that (as much as we hate to admit it) Seattle is the true home of TI so it’s a completely understandable move.
Sixteen of the world’s best teams will head to Seattle to battle it out – and the prize pool has grown year on year thus far. It would be an incredible feat should the Dota community manage to fund a prize pool larger than the year before – but it’s almost something that they take pride so it may well happen.
Esports Insider says: Looks like we’ll have to shell out on the expensive flights to Seattle then. With Valve events in Boston, Kiev and Seattle this year it’s not been an overly cheap year for us Dota 2 fans from London. Wembley Stadium next year, please Valve?
