Valve Looking for Alternative TI10 Venues Following Swedish Esports Ruling

According to Valve, the developers have since reached out to the Swedish Minister of the Interior. The developers reportedly requested for the government to classify TI10 as an elite sporting event. However, the request was denied. Thus, Valve has been forced to consider other venues for TI10.

Valve doesn't explicitly state that it is closing its doors from pushing through with the original plans. Instead, Valve simply added that it has already "started looking for possible alternatives elsewhere in Europe to host the event this year."

After already canceling The International 10 in 2020, Valve will not want to cancel the tournament for the second year in a row.

However, this does cast a certain bad light on Valve and the Dota 2 community. In terms of esports events, it seems like Valve lacks the foresight that the other developers have. For example, Riot Games has had its planned dates and locations set in advance for the League of Legends World Championships for years. Worlds is 2022 already scheduled to be held in North America in 2022.

For an event that's supposed to be as lucrative as The International 10 - the tournament will have the highest prize pool in esports history with $40 million up for grabs - Valve should have taken care of this already months ago.

While Sweden deserves part of the blame, it is still up to Valve to make sure that everything is settled.

Now, we're only weeks away from the start of The International 10. Valve will need to triple if not quadruple its efforts to make sure that TI10 is not canceled. Otherwise, they risk losing the trust of a player base that's already dwindled in recent years.