The 2020 Battlepass Set to Launch Next Week?
Yes, it certainly will, is what one Redditor (/u/Gmoney228) believes. He believes that the 2020 edition of the Battlepass will launch on 22 April 2020 and is willing to bet over $100 (10 Battlepasses) on it. His reasoning behind it is also quite interesting.
Valve usually sets a deadline for Steam Workshop submissions for sets to be included in The International Battlepass Treasures. The deadline for this year’s battlepass is on 27th April 2020. Over the last few years, the battlepass has launched exactly 5 days before the deadline comes to a close.
The International | Steam Workshop Deadline | Battlepass Release Date |
The International 2018 | 13th May 2018 | 8th May 2018 |
The International 2019 | 12th May 2019 | 7th May 2019 |
The International 2020 | 27th April 2020 | 21st April 2020 ??? |
By this trend, the International 2020 Battlepass should release on 21st April 2020 (Tuesday).
Indicators which support this Theory
There are several indications which support this conclusion as well.
- Battle passes usually release after big tournaments like the Majors. The ESL One LA Online League was organised to replace the ESL One LA Major 2020. This tournament comes to an end on 19th April 2020 (Sunday). So the likelihood of the Battlepass being released at this time increases by a significant margin.
- The 2020 Battlepass Achievements and a variety of features were leaked 2 months ago, indicating an earlier version of the Battlepass.
- Valve's rework of the 'New Player Experience' was also uncovered recently, which confirms that a fairly big update is coming soon.
We know, we know these are all strawman theories and there are some external circumstances which will likely affect The International 10 even taking place. We also know that the above prediction is a looooong shot.
But considering the fact that Valve is seemingly working on full force with updates to Half Life: Alyx and Artifact, we have a hard time believing that they have nothing in store for us Dota 2 faithful.