Cover-Credits:
Kyle "Kyle" Freedman, former Dota 2 pro and current analyst, is recognized as one of the more vocal personalities in the Dota 2 space. On Richard Lewis' 'The Richard Lewis Show,' Kyle engaged in a highly detailed conversation in which he discussed Valve's inadequacies towards Dota 2’s competitive ecosystem and the people involved in it. He stated that The International (TI), the largest and highly regarded Dota 2 event, is his least favorite event to work at. Kyle presented examples from the latest edition of TI (TI10) to describe how Valve, as compared to other tournament organizers, showed little regard towards the needs of the Dota 2 talent.
Kyle explains why TI is his least favorite event to work at
Kyle has worked in the capacity of a Dota 2 talent for quite some time now and went on to mention he feels more valued when he works with other tournament organizers. He believes they work as partners with other tournament organizers but with Valve, it is much tougher.
“Community, players, TOs (Tournament Organizers), I feel valued. I feel like I am a valued member of the community. I don't feel that way ever when I work on a Valve IP, on a Valve product. I think TI is probably my least favored event to work. I think this last one was miserable for a lot of reasons but I am not gonna get into too much of that.”
Although, Kyle did mention a few things like his difficulties in casting at TI10. Kyle described that the schedule for casting the games was irregular, evidently showcasing Valve's lack of concern for the sleep schedule of its Dota 2 talent.
“Even just little things that you know as a TO that you try to avoid like doing and first (first and last series). Getting in at 8 am and then also having to be live at 10 pm or working the last series and then having to come in for the first. These are all things we try to avoid. Every TO tries to avoid these things. At TI, sleep is certainly not a consideration in how the schedule is made. This is the feedback I have given multiple years and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.”
Kyle went on to talk about another incident related to TI10 in which he stressed the idea of working together as opposed to simply being told what to do. After his co-caster (Austin "Cap" Walsh) fell ill, he was asked to cast a couple of series with another play-by-play caster. Even though Kyle was amenable, he also suggested Valve should ask the caster if he actually wanted to cast with him. This was because, for the caster, it was a big stage and they already had their own partners with whom they would have stronger synergy. “I really think that people, when they are comfortable are going to be better set up for success and they should have some input into who they go work with in their one opportunity to go cast Main Stage,” said Kyle.
On 24th Jan 2022, this podcast was released at a time when the community was quite critical of Valve's approach to Dota 2's competitive circuit. A massive uproar ensued after the company abruptly canceled the first Major of the season on 12th Jan without contacting players or teams beforehand. In response to the community backlash, Valve consulted the teams and then the six regions had been assigned Regional Finals in place of the Major. This podcast, however, was recorded at the time when the meeting between the players and Valve was still taking place.
Kyle discusses the Team Spirit cramped room incident from TI10
There was a lot of backlash from the community during TI10 due to Team Spirit's Twitter video showcasing its concerns with the cramped practice rooms. This was also intimated by some other teams. Dmitry "Korb3n" Belov, Team Spirit's manager, claimed that the rooms were allocated based on DPC points, with better rooms being given to teams with higher rankings.
Kyle mentioned that Valve took huge steps to fix the issue as the video from Team Spirit garnered a lot of attention along with the community pouring in its reactions.
“So they (Valve) went to a hotel as like part of the same group and paid who knows how much to kick people out of their rooms to cancel bookings so that we could then, you know, have these teams moved into those rooms. Who knows how much this cost but the question is would this have happened if it weren’t public, if it weren’t number one on Reddit, and if there weren’t people looking at that and laughing like, “Ah 40 million tournament. Hahaha.”
Citing this particular TI10 incident, Kyle explained that it wasn't Valve's lack of ability to deal with partners, but rather its unwillingness to make it happen. But when Valve is motivated, it can "move mountains."
At the time of the Major's cancellation, players such as Maurice "KheZu" Gutmann and Evil Geniuses' Dota 2 manager, Peter Anders, stated that Valve told them at TI10 that if they had issues, they should contact Valve directly rather than posting on social media. In their experience, however, whenever they try to contact Valve's Dota 2 division, no one addresses their concerns. Kyle also shared the same sentiment in the podcast, saying it is ultimately necessary to go public for the parties that are suffering when Valve does not respond. Interestingly, Kyle said that when the parties go public and there is community backlash, Valve is able to offer solutions in the shortest amount of time.
In the end, Kyle described his plans to look for additional sources of income since he no longer felt comfortable with just Dota 2. According to him, many others including players, team owners, and talent crew, share the same view, as they feel they are not in control of their fate if they only focus on Dota 2. Since he admired the game so much, he also said that he will remain a part of it in some way, hoping that changes will be made for the better in the near future.
