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Valve Shuts Down In-Game Advertisements Ahead of The International Copenhagen

Published by

Hongyu Chen

3 weeks ago

Valve removes in-game ads from Dota 2 ahead of TI

Game publisher Valve announced Wednesday that it has decided to shut down in-game advertisements for Dota 2’s annual event – The International Copenhagen 2024 at Royal Arena from Sept. 4-15.

“This year, to remove distracting elements and allow full focus on the game and the people playing it,” Valve wrote in its announcement. ”We aren’t going to have advertisements and sponsorships in-game at The International, including team banners, base logos, and tags in players’ names.”

The announcement has led to some public outcry from both the community and Dota 2 teams, whose sponsors have been cut out of in-game advertising without any warning. For example, Xiao Bing Bing Arena—a card game developed by Chinese game publisher Lilith—sponsors four Chinese Dota 2 teams; WBG.XG, Azure Ray, G2xiG, and LGD Gaming—expressed disappointment in a comment in the official Dota 2 Weibo post. Xiao Bing Bing Arena responded with the comment: “Ugh.”

Canadian esports organization Gaimin Gladiators also commented on Twitter Wednesday, saying that it had not been informed in advance of the public announcement:

“We found out the same way you did. Now I understand why the Midas bug is still around – so we can make money from a dead game,” Gaimin Gladiators wrote on Twitter/X, “The game is clearly not dead ppl, just the sponsors” in the comment.

Executives from several Chinese Dota 2 teams told The Esports Advocate that they are concerned that this news will decrease brand interest in sponsoring the Dota 2 teams at The International going forward.

In addition, the announcement also leads to issues within the Dota 2 Esports ecosystem that are directly carrying a sponsored team name/ownership. For instance, the Russian Dota 2 team BetBoom is owned and sponsored by betting outlet BetBoom. Chinese Dota 2 team WBG.XG is a joint venture of the Chinese social media platform Weibo and the Dota 2 team Xtreme Gaming. In short, Weibo is not only the sponsor of the team but also the co-owner of WBG.XG. Both WBG.XG and BetBoom will compete in this year’s TI.

Sponsors’ logos on team jerseys are likely not affected due to its not in-game advertisement.

Sixteen teams will compete at The International 2024, including Team Spirit, WBG.XG, Team Falcons, Team Liquid, Gaimin Gladiators, BetBoom, Cloud9, Tundra Esports, 1win, Team Zero, G2xiG, Talon Esports, Aurora, nouns, Heroic, and Beastcoast.

Here is a list of major sponsors for major participating teams (gambling sponsors are not included):

Team Spirit: Red Bull, Secret Lab
WBG.XG: Weibo, Xiao Bing Bing Arena
G2xiG: Logitech, Mastercard, Spotify, Red Bull, Herman Miller, Pringles, Stride, Ralph Lauren
Talon Esports: Paris Saint-Germain, Secret Lab, Monster
nouns: Adidas
Cloud9: KIA, Red Bull, Secret Lab
Team Liquid: Honda, Monster, SAP, Alienware, IMC, Secret Lab
Gaimin Gladiators: SteelSeries, Stoneforged

The International 2024 will feature a total prize pool of $2.28M USD, a substantial decrease from previous years; The International 2021 featured $40M, and The International 2019 featured $34M total prize money.

Hongyu Chen

Hongyu "Eddie" Chen serves as conduit from China to the rest of global esports scene as the only Chinese journalist living in China while writing for Western media outlets. For the last four years Eddie served as the China esports correspondent for The Esports Observer and Sports Business Journal. He is a bilingual graduate of MA Business and Marketing and a certified BEng Electronic and Communication Engineer.