Valve’s Move Against In-Game Advertisements at TI: Bold Statement or Pointless Posturing?

Less than two weeks before the start of its largest (and only self-sponsored) Dota 2 tournament, The International 2024, Valve announced it would be disallowing in-game advertisements. What this meant was that primarily three forms of in-game advertisement, the banners that hang outside of bases, the logos that sit on the high ground, and player’s name tags, would have to remove all references to sponsors..

The reason given was that this move was to allow fans to experience The International, a pet project of Valve and one of the few things they still directly control in the esports space, without distraction and confusion. In-game names wouldn’t have sponsors' names tacked to the front or back, in clan tags, and the in-game graphics would not feature advertisements.

The move immediately sent ripples through the Dota 2 scene, as teams scrambled to work out how to fill sponsor obligations knowing advertisements were now banned. After all, some of these deals had been in place for months, and were supporting the team’s attendance to TI13 in the first place. Some saw it as a targeted move against gambling sponsors, and even to a certain extent, the viability of the Dota 2 scene. In banning these sponsors, it left teams and sponsors in the lurch, and while only earning mild praise from fans and community members who perhaps misunderstood its application.

It was a statement. Valve didn’t like the way things were being done. But the blanket ban affected more than gambling. It affected sponsorships linked to World of Warcraft, to PC peripherals, and accessories, and cryptocurrency platforms; it may have even caused other sponsorships to collapse completely. And The International wasn’t ad free. On the broadcast, fans still had to endure Twitch and YouTube ads. Secret Lab chairs and peripherals were on clear display throughout the event. And, of course, players jerseys still had ads.

So what was the point? Was this a bold statement by Valve, saying it didn’t care for a certain type of sponsor, and some “acceptable” brands got caught in the mix? A big move by the company to try and shape the way it wanted esports? Or just Valve applying the smallest modicum of power over the very last event in the Dota 2 calendar it has any control over? And beyond that how were teams affected and what sponsorships did they miss out on?