Cover-Credits:
AFK Gaming
EHOME has claimed that it was no longer in control of the team when its players were banned from the Dota 2 Pro Circuit (DPC). Through a follower-only post on its official Weibo account, the Chinese Dota 2 organization stated that it encountered operational problems and had signed a tri-party agreement with LGD Gaming and Daofeng Technology. Under this agreement, LGD and Daofeng Technology would operate the EHOME Dota 2 team. Eventually, the club claims that LGD and Daofeng sold EHOME’s slot in the China Dota Pro Circuit 2023: Division I to another company.
Perfect World Allegedly Declined EHOME’s Request to Unlink the Team With Its DPC Slot
EHOME stated that after The International 2022 (TI11), its operations continued to deteriorate due to the pandemic among other reasons, leading to the end of the tri-party agreement with LGD Gaming and Daofeng Technology. Looking for another partner proved to be unfruitful and thus, EHOME decided to shut down its Dota 2 operations. However, the two other partners allegedly sold the team’s DPC 2023 slot to another company, who changed its name to Unity Gaming. Doing this resulted in the renaming of in-game cosmetics that were related to EHOME, which hurt the interests of Dota 2 players who possessed these items.
EHOME’s request to Perfect World to unbind the DPC slot and the in-game team ID was allegedly rejected, and as a result, Unity Gaming once again reverted to the EHOME name. Then on 9th March 2023, Valve and Perfect World revealed that five of EHOME’s players are among the 46 Chinese Dota 2 players that have been banned from the DPC. Additionally, the organization itself has been removed from the DPC.
EHOME’s full statement (translated via DeepL, edited for brevity) is as follows:
“At the beginning of 2015, EHOME completed the restructuring with the LV team as the base, and re-launched EHOME eSports Club to fight in DOTA2. After the restructuring, EHOME successively won the Pfeiffer Cup, Shanghai Open, MDL, Bucharest Minor, and secured a fifth place finish at TI5, TI6, etc. In 2020, EHOME encountered operational problems, and it was difficult to sustain the organization. Due to this, EHOME signed a three-way cooperation contract with LGD eSports Club and Daofeng Technology, with LGD and Daofeng Technology operating the EHOME DOTA2 division as agents. During this time, EHOME won several domestic tournaments, and we would like to thank LGD and Daofeng Technology for the achievements of EHOME.
After TI11 in 2022, the club's operations continued to deteriorate due to the epidemic and other related reasons, leading to the end of the three-way cooperation. After a fruitless search for a new suitable partner, the EHOME club decided to withdraw from the DOTA2 project, but the partners LGD and Daofeng Technology re-sold EHOME's China League S slots to a new season to a third party company, but the DPC placement slot and the in-game team system (EHOME team ID: 4) are linked. The third party company changed the team name to Unity Gaming after acquiring the DPC slot, resulting in the in-game EHOME-related accessories being renamed as well, harming the interests of DOTA2 players in general and EHOME fans who collect EHOME virtual accessories in particular. After our request to actively communicate with Perfect World to unbundle DPC spots and team IDs was denied, we had to make a concession to protect the virtual accessories of DOTA2 players and let the new team continue to use EHOME's name to participate in the 2022-2023 DPC season, and the new team changed back to EHOME after changing its name to Unity Gaming.
Today, Perfect World released an announcement that five of EHOME's players have been banned for this season ranging from one year to life, and EHOME has been moved out of the DPC China League. We regret that a veteran club that once brought honor to Chinese DOTA ended up in this situation, and we blame ourselves for not being more aggressive in fighting for the resale of team spots so that EHOME could have a decent ending. At the same time, we fully respect Perfect World and Valve's penalty announcement and accept the punishment, and also thank Perfect World and the majority of DOTA2 bloggers and players for their contribution to purifying the DOTA environment.
The sunset is infinite, just near dusk. Last but not least, many thanks to those fans who have always supported the EHOME club for a long time, no matter at the trough or at the peak. There is no banquet under the sky. From today, we will quit the DOTA2 stage, hope the DOTA2 competitive environment will get better and better, and Chinese DOTA will be the TI champion again!”
