Merely a week before the International 2024 (TI13) kicks off, Valve announced that no in-game advertisements will be allowed at the event.

This is the first time Valve has put up such a restriction at TI event, so here are what fans and players have to say about it.

No ads in TI13 matches

Diving deep into Valve’s statement, the context behind Valve’s ban on ads has more to do with how teams have been misusing in-game team banners, base logo and tags on their player profile name to feature their sponsors, which were intended to showcase team or player identities. In recent years, these spaces have become advertising slots for team’s sponsors.

To make matters worse, esports betting platforms often sponsor teams, so their brand is plastered all over the sponsored team’s logo, player jerseys and now, in-game banners.

Why is this a problem at TI13?

Most third-party tournaments are already receiving sponsors from esports betting sites, this wouldn’t be a problem since they sponsored these tournaments after all.

However, TI Championships are a community and Valve-funded event, so no sponsors should have advertising rights at the event. Well, at least this was the case until TI11.

Esports betting ads at TI11

PGL received massive backlash during the International 11 because they showed ads of betting platform sponsor throughout the community-funded tournament.

As such, it’s a nice change of pace that Valve took the incident seriously and placed a ban on in-game advertisements at TI13.

Fan reactions

Most Dota 2 fans seem to be grateful for Valve’s decision of no ads at TI13. However, note that the advertising ban is only on in-game elements, including the team banner, base logo, and tags in player names. Sponsors still can advertise throughout the event, plausibly on the official Twitch stream and player jerseys too.

Nonetheless, there are many who are concerned about sponsors potentially opting out of Dota 2 esports due to Valve’s decision.

For instance, Alliance’s co-owner, kellymilkies, shared her thoughts, citing that Valve’s decision is a huge blow on sponsors that funded teams year-round only to not have their brand displayed at TI13. Additionally, coming from a co-owner of an Esports org herself, she shared that it’s a struggle for orgs to be sustainable in Dota 2 Esports, given the low percentage of winnings they get. This would be even lower if the org has a strong team line-up, which can negotiate for a lower percentage.

A huge curveball & blow to orgs who have sponsors funding them the whole year only for them to have to go to said sponsors now & be like thx for the money but gg we can’t display you at TI.

Wonder if orgs were informed earlier or only now because it’s a huge blow to the business

— Alliance kelly @ ??ALGS (@kellymilkies) August 28, 2024

Meanwhile, Mike Schwartz, the head of esports at OG Esports, shares his take on how Valve’s decision might be due to liability issues with promoting betting in-game. He also added that at this point, three sources of revenue that most teams relied on previously, such as team supporter packs, battle pass contribution to prize pool, and now, branding.

And, of course, there’s also retired pro player, Peter “ppd” Dager, who’s just making a fun banter on Valve’s announcement by saying he loves gambling.

On the other hand, most Dota 2 fans seem to appreciate Valve’s decision as the sponsors on team flags and player profile in-game tags can be very distracting for viewers. There is also a general consensus that advertisements of esports betting at The International is a horrible experience.

However, since the ban technically only removed advertising slots in-game, it should still be viable for marketing outside of the game.