Valve has discarded the Dota Pro Circuit system
Valve has announced that it is abandoning the Dota Pro Circuit system and this season was the last season where it would use it. The fact is that the rules and restrictions during the Pro Season, aka Dota Pro Circuit, made it less exciting, fun and varied.
When Valve started making the Dota Pro Circuit system, it wanted to come up with a way to make it easier for teams and players to understand the path they would need to take for a slot to The International:
"We started the Dota Pro Circuit in 2017 to answer a question that was coming up more and more frequently: How do you earn an invite to The International? Understanding that every invitation system has trade-offs, we set out to create a system with more clarity and transparency.When it came to that one limited goal, we succeeded. The DPC demystified the invitation criteria, and made it easier for pros to understand their path to The International.
Valve notes that tournament operators, due to various restrictions, were not thinking about new hosting formats and innovations, but rather how to fulfill all the rules:
"Unfortunately, the DPC brought with it a set of rules and regulations, and those have come with a cost that’s become clearer to us over time: The world of competitive Dota has grown less exciting, less varied, and ultimately much less fun. The best world is the one where event organizers aren’t competing for our attention, but for yours".
Valve relaxed the rules for tournament operators, but it didn't help:
"Relaxing those requirements doesn't help. No matter how well-intentioned our event specifications, or the actions of the event organizers in meeting them, it distracts from what the goals of these events used to be: showcasing Dota in the most entertaining way possible, enticing players to participate and the audience to watch.
The Dota community has decades of grassroots experience coming up with innovative and entertaining events, and right now the DPC is getting in the way.
With that in mind, we're ending the Dota Pro Circuit: 2023 will be the final DPC season".
It is noted that competitive Dota 2 and The International 2024 itself is not going anywhere:
"Competitive Dota predates the DPC by many years and will continue long after. The International will continue as well — we're already working on The International 2024, and next year we'll be talking more about how invitations to that event will work. But for now, we're going to return our focus to this year's event — which, unbelievably, is only four short weeks away".
As Cyberscore previously reported, Valve will change the concept of the Battle Pass for The International 12, it should be released at the end of September.