AFTER 5 YEARS of changing venues and host cities, Valve has announced that The International 2023 will finally come back home to Seattle, Washington. The announcement comes during the final day of Berlin Major.
The announcement done in a video shows a person (probably a Valve staff) preparing to ship the Aegis of Champions before later placing a Seattle sticker on the box before the Dota 2 theme reaches a crescendo.
It will be the first time The International returns to Seattle since 2017 when the city last played host to the annual event. Seattle is the home of Valve with its headquarters located in the city. It was also deemed the home of The International after having been held in the city from 2012 to 2017.
The International 2023 will be held at the Climate Pledge Arena (formerly known as Key Arena). The Arena played host to The International from 2014 to 2017 when Valve shifted from the smaller Benaroya Hall to a full pledge arena. It has witnessed some of the biggest moments in Dota 2 history from EG’s Million Dollar Echo Slam to TNC’s upset against OG in 2016.
Valve had to move TI in 2018 to Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada due to upcoming renovations to Climate Pledge Arena. From 2018 until last year, the Aegis of Champions had been on a world tour, visiting China, Romania, and finally Singapore.
In a blog post, Valve has announced that TI kicks off October 14 with the group and playoffs taking place under one banner. The first two stages will be known as The Road to The International, whereas the main TI itself will commence October 27 to October 29 presumably hosting the last remaining game before the grand finals on the 29th.
Home may not be as homey
With the announcement comes doubts and fears about what this means to the teams. Teams had been plagued with Visa issues over the last couple of years, and even in the recent Berlin Major teams have been forced to play with stand-ins due to Visa issues.
Securing visas, especially to the US and Europe, has been extremely hard for pros in the last couple of years. One of the most notable instances was in 2016 when TNC and Execration nearly missed TI after having their original applications denied.
With only a single tour remaining, teams must now face a dilemma as to whether fix their visas early despite no guarantee of a TI spot.
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