Valve to Find an Alternative Location for TI10 Outside of Sweden

English, Esports Ecosystem, Hybrid

The International 10 is met with the classic problem of visa issue once again for this year, this time only worse. Dota 2’s yearly grand event is planned to take place in Sweden on August 2021 but, with the Swedish Sports Federation’s recent rejection to accept esports into the sports federation, hope looks anything but grim.

Initially, the plan was to host the event in 2020 as per annual tradition, but as we all know, the pandemic took place — eventually leading to its postponement all the way to August 2021. The situation was all smiles and laughter until Valve announced “an important update on TI10”.

In their official post, Valve explained that things went smoothly at first and that TI10 was assured to be given the same recognition as other elite sporting events in Sweden. They kept in close contact with both Stockholm Live and Visit Stockholm who gave the assurance.

Unfortunately, with the Swedish Sports Federation rejecting to recognize esports equally as other sports, a ton of problems quickly surfaced. In response, Valve held a meeting with the Swedish Esports Federation and Visit Stockholm to resolve the issue. They found out that Valve’s only option was to ask Sweden’s Minister of the Interior to reconsider TI as an elite sporting event; only to get their request immediately denied.

With their only option not making the cut, the staffs, players, and talents involved in TI10 will have massive immigration problems if the event continues to be held in Sweden. For instance, Valve highlighted that “The absence of this official recognition also means individual border agents would be making decisions about entry for those traveling to the event from countries outside the EU who do not typically need a visa to enter Sweden.”

Valve even asked for help from the Swedish government on June 9, followed them up on June 14, but similarly to no avail. As such, they ultimately need to find an alternative location to host this year’s International. Though the location is yet to be announced, Valve felt confident that they “will have a solution that allows us to hold TI10 in Europe this year”.

For now, Valve will still proceed with the planned TI10 Regional Qualifiers as they prepare to give an updated plan regarding TI10 in the near future. The qualifiers will kick off on June 23 as scheduled, as well as the all-new summer event Nemestice arriving soon.

Featured Image by Twitter @wykrhm.