Following Valve’s announcement earlier this week that it was looking for alternate locations to host Dota 2’s The International 10, the Swedish Esports Association has now confirmed the event will no longer be held in Stockholm.
Valve initially said it was looking for “possible alternatives elsewhere in Europe” to host the event in August following a vote by the Swedish government and the Swedish Sports Federation to not accept esports into the sports federation.
That denial, and subsequent rejections, meant that TI would not be directly acknowledged under the SSF and players, talent, and staff attempting to procure a visa for travel into Sweden for TI10 would be denied.
This final decision was shared earlier today despite the Swedish Esports Association working alongside the likes of Alliance to outline a solution that would allow the event to still be hosted in Stockholm.
“We find it sad that we received the information so late and that we were not involved before,” chairman of the Swedish Esports Association Sammi Kaidi said to Expressen. “We have long tried to be a part of the sports movement precisely so as not to end up in situations like this and acted as soon as we got the organizer’s press release, along with calls from professional teams.”
Valve, Alliance, the Swedish Esports Association, and others all tried to work with the proper overseeing bodies but the proposals were met with rejection.
Kaidi confirmed to Expressen that he had been in communication with Valve regarding the situation yesterday and the company thanked them for their attempt but will need to look elsewhere because it “feels that the opportunity to correct the course and still take The International to Stockholm in August is over.”
Due to this, Valve will be looking to host TI10 elsewhere and may need to postpone the original Aug. 5 to 15 time frame for the event.
It’s still unknown how this potential ruling by the SSF will impact Valve’s planned PGL Stockholm Counter-Strike Major scheduled for October this year. But Valve noted it still plans to hold events in Sweden in the future in its statement on TI10.
“I don’t understand it on so many levels,” Alliance CEO and Dota legend Jonathan “Loda” Berg said to Expressen. “TI is the world’s largest esports event. Other countries beg and ask to be the host nation and Sweden says no. We have been fighting for this and seeing it as the light at the end of the tunnel for almost two years.”
The regional qualifiers for the remaining six spots at TI10 will continue over the next several weeks, which will finalize the 18-team lineup that will compete for their share of the more than $40 million prize pool when the event does take place.
