European DPC Teams Complain About Valve's Lack of Communication on the Supporters Clubs
A few western European teams competing in the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) 2021 have voiced concerns about Valve's lack of implementation and communication regarding Dota 2’s ‘Supporters Club’ submissions. Both ‘Into The Breach’ and ‘No Bounty Hunter’ have posted detailed statements about submitting their Supporters Club bundles weeks before. Yet, these bundles are yet to be added to the game with Valve allegedly not properly communicating with the teams about this matter. The Supporters Club bundles have the potential of generating a significant amount of revenue for DPC teams considering that 50% of the proceeds from the sales go to the team.
Update - In an update on June 29, 2021, Valve added Supporters Clubs for 22 more teams, which includes Into The Breach, Team Bald Reborn, and No Bounty Hunter.
No Bounty Hunter and Into the Breach are unhappy with Valve's communication
Two lower-league teams from the EU DPC, Into The Breach and No Bounty Hunter, have both made statements alleging an inadequacy of communication by Valve to the teams regarding Supporters Club bundles. The teams claim that they have invested time, money, and effort into their bundles, and they feel that Valve has turned a deaf ear to their complaints.
A series of tweets from Into The Breach presented their side of the story. They mentioned that they hired artists to create their Supporters Club bundle and even paid extra money to make them on time. However, their bundle is still yet to be added to the game.
Into The Breach also criticized Valve for its lack of communication and the absence of a community manager with whom organizations and teams could communicate. “We feel this is part of a wider and systemic issue stemming from Valve’s lack of a community engagement manager from which orgs can communicate with and feel supported by. Organizations across all levels have been screaming for this for years,” reads Into The Breach’s statement.
Even with the DPC being split into two divisions, the organization still feels that Valve has not done nearly enough to increase the scene's quality. It also mentioned that sponsors are unwilling to partner with Dota 2 teams, as well as adding additional issues.
“It's just pretty heart-breaking to not even get a fan-bundle approved or have a single, dedicated point of contact from Valve. Our limited time engaging with Dota as an esport feels like a reoccurring gut punch from someone invisible but palpably apathetic.”Into The Breach
Eduard from No Bounty Hunter also posted a statement about this matter on Reddit. According to him, the team’s fan bundle had been sent to Valve on May 25, 2021, a little over two weeks after the Supporters Club bundles were initially announced.
It has nearly been a month since then, and No Bounty Hunter’s supporters club bundle has still not been added to the game. “Many other teams have the same issue – primarily tier 2 or 3. This does not make sense to me, as it is probably those teams that need the support most,” said Eduard
Eduard further explained the efforts that No Bounty Hunter has undertaken in recent times to uncover the cause of the delay.
“I spoke with people from our local TO (DreamLeague) and they’ve asked Valve about this three weeks ago and got no answer. We were also directed to PGL since they are handling TI quals and seem to have more communication… We were told to just be patient. We then posted on the designated channel – on June 16th) – and PGL admin contacted us regarding the supporter club, stating that they just got info from Valve that something is not correct and we need to fix it. We fixed the pack and re-uploaded, and have since not received any other communication.”Eduard, No Bounty Hunter
Eduard stated that other teams like Into The Breach, Team Bald Reborn, Winstrike Team, 5ManMidas, Team Mystery, Fantastic Five, and Lilgun have also faced similar issues.
Valve has been criticized by both teams for the lack of support and communication that is needed to make the tier 2-3 scene thrive. In spite of their relatively small fan bases, these teams are putting in a lot of effort to grow but Valve does not do enough to assist them, they state.
Team Bald Reborn’s carry and popular Dota 2 streamer, Janne "Gorgc" Stefanovski, while reading Eduard’s Reddit statement on stream, mentioned that his team was also in a similar situation and hoped that their bundle would be added soon.
According to Valve’s blog post, the Supporters Club bundles will only be available until TI10 commences, so these teams are missing out on both money and exposure, the longer Valve decides to delay the addition of these bundles to the Dota 2 client.
