The question has been looming in the minds of the entire Dota 2 community – will The International 2020, or TI10, be taking place on the scheduled dates and if yes, what will the qualifying protocols be? Well, Valve released a statement today that confirmed what everyone was fearing – postponement of TI10. There is a bit of positive news though, as the statement mentions that the Battle Pass will not be postponed along with the tournament and will instead, be released close to its original release date. Here is the statment from Valve:
After extensive consideration of the global health emergency stemming from COVID-19, we have made the difficult choice to delay The International. We have been exploring various date possibilities, but it is likely that the event will need to happen in 2021. Given the highly volatile landscape for local gathering restrictions, virus trajectory, and global travel policies, we don’t expect to have enough confidence to communicate firm dates in the near future. In the meantime, we are working on restructuring the DPC season for the fall, and will be providing more information as soon as we have it.
The 10th International prize pool will be funded by 25% of sales of the next Battle Pass, which we are planning to release soon instead of closer to the event itself. However, with our team working from home and things taking longer to complete, the release date of the Battle Pass will be at least a couple of weeks later than usual.
We hope everyone in the Dota community is staying as safe as possible, and look forward to a time when we can once again welcome everyone to enjoy the spectacle of The International.
Considering the fact that the Battle Pass release is typically sometime in the first two weeks of May, a couple of weeks of delay will mean this year’s Battle Pass will be released somewhere around the end of May or start of June. Also, we will have to wait and see what the DPC fall season and TI10 qualification holds in store.
It is definitely not the happiest of news, but it is the right decision considering the global condition. It is hard to say what the situation will be in August, but it is better to be safe than sorry and having to postpone at the last moment. The Dota 2 community and the world will get through this and we will come out on the other side stronger and wiser. Till then, stay safe and get ready for Lakad Matatag! Normalin, Normalin!
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