Will The International Happen This Year?

Will The International Happen This Year?
(Photo : Dota 2)

In 2020, The International was not to happen due to the pandemic. The situation is still difficult, so fans of the competitive Dota 2 cannot be sure that it will be possible to hold it this year. But still there are reason to expect TI in August as it has been planned. Read on to find out about them and about the negative factors that can hamper its holding.

What Factors Facilitate The International

Massive Vaccination

The main thing that lets us be positive about the future is the vaccination process. More and more vaccine go through trials and show themselves effective, their production is established, and this way the pandemic may get declines in the nearest months. To hold LAN tournaments at least without spectators, it is enough to ensure the safety of its participants and all those people who organize it. It is likely to take thousands, but Valve must be able to provide vaccines for them.

Experience in Traditional Sports and Other Esports Disciplines

The pandemic caught everyone by surprise, so almost all events got stopped last year. But people learnt how to deal with it so sports events run their course - with troubles, but without disruptions.

Some other esports disciplines show a good example for Valve - for starters, we are talking about League of Legends. Riot Games have successfully held World Championship 2020 despite the hard conditions; this experience can be incorporated, and we should not forget about the competition between the most successful MOBAs - Valve cannot leave Dota 2 without its main tournaments for the second year in a row while LoL has them.

Conditions in Sweden

TI 10 must be held in Stockholm, and it is not going to be relocated. Even though Gabe Newell, who moved to New Zealand, expressed his wish to hold tournaments there in the future, it still concerns long terms. The quarantine in Sweden is mild, this country is also going to hold Counter-Strike major, and now nothing states that the governments may start to create obstacles for holding the event.

Start of the DPC Season

If 2020 broke all the plans and Valve did not announce a new season for a long time, how we can see that the season is rolling as it was intended. Regional DPC leagues are actively taking place and at the end of March there must be a Major in Singapore which will end up the first half of the season. It is supposed to be LAN - so it will be a rehearsal before TI.

Will The International Happen This Year?
(Photo : ONE Esports Singapore Major by PGL)

What Can Hamper

Worsening of the Situation

The only thing that can wreck TI is a rapid worsening of the epidemiological situation. We cannot say that it is something incredible - there is always a chance for the new variant of the virus that does not have a cure to appear.

If it happens in the summer, there will be too little time to react to the circumstances - for example, the government of Sweden will impose stricter restrictions and prohibit to hold the event in their country and it will be too late to relocate the event. Last year Valve showed conservatism in a similar situation - rumour has it that the company had an offer to hold the tournament in China but they refused.

Organizational Difficulties

Of course, in 2020 the tournament was doomed not only because of the unwillingness of the company: it is extremely difficult and expensive to make such a big event during the pandemic. This factor should also be considered: you need to provide all teams with a chance to come to the tournament, and all countries have their own rules that can be a serious threat if the situation is worse and the quarantine restrictions get more severe.

Before the pandemic, there also used to be a lot of difficulties - just remember regular replacements because of the visa problems. Now the problem has aggravated. Will Valve hold the tournament if they lose a big part of contestants? So, despite all the positive tendencies, even if it is possible to organize the event in Singapore and the one after it, it is still early to say that TI 10 will definitely happen this year - the intrigue will be kept till the end.

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