Teams Not Allowed to Display Names of Gambling Sponsors at This Year’s The International for Dota 2

The International 2024 (TI 2024), the most prominent Dota 2 and eSports competition overall, is scheduled to take place in Copenhagen, Denmark, on September 4-15. The organizers have made the decision to forbid betting operators or any other team sponsors from appearing in the team names and logos during the event.

In-Game Banners Dominated by Adverts Instead of Showcasing Team or Player Identity

Valve, the creator of the MOBA game Dota 2, has revealed information on in-game ads during The International 2024, the largest eSports and game tournament, which takes place this September, featuring 16 teams competing for the Aegis of Champions trophy at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen, out of which two have equal odds (+300 or similar) to triumph according to most bookmakers with crypto: Gaimin Gladiators and Team Spirit. In order “to remove distracting elements and allow full focus on the game and the people playing”it”—in other words, to minimize distractions for players and spectators—the developer, who’s co-organizing the event in Denmark alongside PGL, a Romanian event organizer, studio, and video production business, announced that there will be no in-game commercials or sponsorships throughout the competition.

Dota 2 lets tournament organizers place in-game banners and other items on the game map, just like certain other games do, like League of Legends. According to Valve, the in-game banners were first designed to “showcase team or player identity”, but in recent years, they’ve also hosted adverts. As a result, the Dota 2 developer has determined that in-game banners, base logos, and player name tags will no longer be permitted for advertising purposes during this tournament edition. This should make place for additional team logos, but Valve was vague about whether this would actually be the case or not. It’s going to be interesting to see which names some of the teams that qualified for TI 2024 will use, given that the gambling operator’s name is a part of their official moniker; for instance, 1win Team and BetBoom Team.

Social Media: Organizers Just Closed Loophole, Didn’t Eliminate Ads

Social media users, especially those on Reddit, were quick to note out that since in-game advertisements were a hole in the system that permitted sponsors to promote themselves outside the main game broadcast or venue, this decision might benefit PGL, the event’s producer and co-organizer.

In-game advertisements have been used as a workaround to circumvent the rights of event planners to make money from sponsorships and their own commercials. This guarantees that all sponsorships and advertisements must be acquired via PGL. So, this only closes a loophole; it doesn’t mean zero advertisements.