Valve reveals the locations of its Dota 2 Majors for 2023

2023 is going to be a truly strange year for Dota 2. Valve has just confirmed the locations of the three Majors and almost everything about them is unexpected.

Usually, the biggest tournament organizers are given the opportunity to organize the best tournaments and the locations are selected to maximize viewership. The question, in the past at least, seems to have been this: where are most passionate Dota 2 fans located?

Sometimes, the answer was Europe. Other times, it was Asia. Occasionally, it was North America. But in 2023, the first Dota Pro Circuit Major will take place in Lima, Peru, while the third will be in Bali, Indonesia. This is really unusual.

What is Valve up to?

When unusual things happen, it’s always interesting to ask a simple question: why? What’s the logic behind these decisions? What’s the objective? To show Dota 2 to a different part of the world? Or to minimize costs?

Given Valve’s decisions over the past three years, it’s very likely that they’re doing this to minimize costs. Of course, this will have an impact on the game’s popularity in places like Western Europe, Eastern Europe, China, North America, and so on.

The move is so bizarre that it might even make some people wonder: what have we done to deserve this? Why take Dota 2 away from its hardcore fans?

It’s pretty obvious that most fans who would have traveled to almost any country in Europe are not going to travel to Bali. And the region is seven hours ahead of Europe, which means that a European fan who wakes up at 9 AM and starts watching Dota 2 at 10 AM will miss most of the matches.

The viewership of the tournament will be affected by this and that might send a bad signal to sponsors. What happened to the good old days when The International was held in Cologne, Germany?

Speaking of Germany, the second DPC Major of 2023 will take place in Berlin, which should calm people down to some degree. Based on everything we know about the Dota 2 community, that Major event is likely to be the most watched of the three. And it will be organized by ESL.

The other two Majors will be organized by 4D Esports and IO Esports. Both of these companies are from Southeast Asia and are not exactly inexperienced. So, in principle, they should be able to do a good job.

Header: Valve Corporation