Valve had announced that the Dota 2 Pro Circuit Major for Winter 2022 would be cancelled via a blog post, citing issues with good ol’ COVID-19. The post mentions points distribution for the following Majors, as well as Fantasy rewards and… not the prize pool that teams would have been in the running for. Where would the $500,000 go?
Why is the Major's prize pool and points not distributed at least partially to the teams that are qualified/would qualify?
Flew to the other side of the world to play DPC & won, and yet I'm probably gonna make like $2k usd for the whole season after expenses.
— ponlo (@ponlodota) January 12, 2022
It’s insane to me that a team like @Quincy_Crew (that has a 6-0 record this DPC) has players that are considering ending their pro careers because the job is becoming too unsustainable financially. These are some of the best players on my continent. What is happening? 🙁
— Moxxi (@MoxxiCasts) January 12, 2022
Teams and talent have come out to express their woes about this lack of communication, and the pressure has gotten Valve to answer, though apparently not through their own channels. Valve apologizes regarding their handling of the situation, and mention plans to organize a LAN tournament regardless, with updates to come when things get finalized. Until then, the Dota 2 Pro Circuit Major for Winter 2022 remains cancelled.
Quincy Crew’s Maurice “KheZu” Gutmann wrote about how Valve thinks “pro players / teams / organizations don’t add value to their product”, that the company could care less about their “partners”. Evil Geniuses’ manager, Peter Anders, disclosed how a meeting with Valve went, which told teams to not publicly discuss problems and speak directly to Valve, without Valve actually providing a proper channel to speak with them.
With the backlash, Valve would hopefully actually learn to properly inform the community as a whole. Don’t be like how Activision Blizzard handled Heroes of the Storm’s pro scene.