Valve cancels Dota 2 Winter Major 2022, garners backlash from pros, community

Dota 2 community is brimming with disappointment as Valve announced the cancellation of Dota 2 Winter Major.

The announcement came as the Winter Tour of the Dota Pro Circuit 2021-2022 season neared the end.

“While hopes were high that we could host an international LAN event, the discovery and spread of new strains of COVID-19 and the resulting increase of travel restrictions have made it unfeasible for all qualified teams to gather for a LAN tournament,” said Valve in a blog post.

However, the announcement spurred negative feedback from Dota 2 community, as there is no official announcement on Dota 2 social media handles and very little communication to the participating teams and pros in the ongoing regional qualifiers.

Negative backlash over unclear situation

The global community has been struggling to combat the COVID-19 pandemic for over two years. While many venues and companies adopt social distancing practices and mandatory vaccines, many people are starting to get exhausted and frustrated.

Valve wanted to ensure all DPC participants were safe from the disease. However, many questions the decision to halt the LAN events, as Valve and its major organizers held LAN tournaments last year. The announcement was also abrupt, as it is only a week left into the winter season.

Fans and players alike shared their disappointment online, especially on Twitter.

“A deeply sad relationship for years but still it hurts so fucking much. The lack of level of care for #dota2 esports by Valve,” said Kelly Sedai, a part of esports team Alliance. “How we became Valve’s public enemy #1 is HEARTBREAKING.”

“If all the teams decide to just not compete in season 2 at least we will have some sort of stable system, either better communication or maybe DOTA just dies completely,” the 22-year-old Sumail said. “Either way better than the current state of things.”

One of the main concerns over the cancellation is finance and redistribution of prize money. Dota 2 collects money from the Battle Pass to fund its league.

Redistribution of points

As a solution, Valve has announced alterations and new points distribution, which were earned by participating teams in the DPC.

As the first major is no longer happening, its points will be redistributed to the second and third Major, namely the Spring and Summer majors.

On second Major, first place will earn 680 points, second place 610 points, third place 530 points, fourth Place 460 points, fifth and sixth place 385 points, lastly seventh and eighth place 240 points.

Meanwhile, on the third major, first place will earn 820 points, second place 740 points, third place 670 points, fourth place 590 points, fifth and sixth place 515 points, and seventh and eighth place 360 points.

However, Valve has not addressed the issue on the prize pool yet, which many find worrisome.

Remembering when Valve reschedule the TI10, teams had to wait for over 1 year and 4 months to be able to fight for the prize pool. Smaller teams were the ones who suffered the most.

The same thing with the Winter major, teams like Quincy Crew and Boom Esports need the prize and limelight. The players who have worked hard through the qualifying/winning run now have nothing to look forward to.

Until the further announcement, teams and pros are left only with anger, disappointment, and exasperation.