Cover-Credits:
Former professional Dota 2 player Peter "PPD" Dager made a Tweet yesterday, commenting on the state of the DPC and the competitive Dota 2 scene in general and what pro players could have done to build a better scene over the years.
PPD’s Reflects On What Could Have Been Done By Pro Players
According to PPD, in Dota 2 esports, apart from Valve, the most powerful players are actually the pro players. These top players had the opportunity to create a product outside the International, but most players chose the easier path:
“We chose to take salaries and prize money from 3rd party business owners (Team & Tourney Organizers) instead of building something of our own for Dota.”
PPD, in the past, launched the NA Dota Challengers League which aimed to boost and showcase the upcoming stars in the NA Dota 2 community. Three editions of this tournament were held before being halted.
Following PPD’s tweet, many in the Dota 2 subreddit pointed out that pro-Dota 2 players in general do not stream or interact with their community to build their brand and do not build communities around themselves. Communities that will help expand their brand and the popularity of Dota 2 esports.
Like we pointed out in an earlier blog, Dota 2 as an esport is quite unique. The International and the DPC Majors/Minors pay out a disproportionately large amount of prize money compared to other tournaments. This TI/Major heavy circuit has likely led to organizations building business models that primarily rely on prize pools which in turn causes teams and players to not take part in too many brand-building exercises and instead focus on training and improving their play.
This leads to a scenario where only the top teams who compete and win at the highest tier of Dota 2 tournaments (which boasts the majority of Dota 2 viewership) can be financially viable in the competitive scene.
Over the last few days, Valve has been criticized heavily for its lack of timely communication and transparency with regards to The International 10 and the DPC. Yesterday, just hours after PPD’s post, Valve finally responded to the criticisms it received during this period and announced their next steps for DPC and TI.
Valve confirmed that The International 10 will most likely take place in August 2021. They also did not change the location of the tournament. Stockholm, Sweden will remain the planned host city.
