Valve Pulls Support for DOTA 2 Philippines Tournament

Valve announced that they're withdrawing their support for DOTA 2's Galaxy Battles 2018 tournament in the Philippines due to concerns for the participating players' privacy.

The removal of the company's support doesn't mean that the tournament won't go on, though. Rather, it means that the tournament simply won't have the "Major" designation that Valve-supported tournaments can have.

Valve posted an official announcement on the DOTA 2 blogs to elaborate on their decision to pull out of supporting the upcoming tournament.

"Based on information we've recently confirmed regarding new government regulations for esports players entering the Philippines, we have decided to rescind the tournament's Major designation, including the Pro Circuit qualifying points, for the Galaxy Battles 2018 tournament. This is based on what we feel are unreasonable infringements on the privacy of the players, as a condition to enter the country. The tournament itself may still proceed, but without any involvement of Valve or the Dota Pro Circuit. This isn't a reflection on how we feel about fans in the Philippines, and we are sorry for those that were planning on attending the event."

In light of their withdrawal from the tournament, the team that made the announcement continued to say that they're now looking into having a "Major" tournament in place of the Galaxy Battles 2018.

"As a result, we're talking to tournament organizers to try to find a way to run a Major with the invited and qualifying teams, including the Pro Circuit points that would have been available in Galaxy Battles 2018."

The removal of the Major designation from the tournament means that players and teams can still compete, but winners won't be awarded with Pro Circuit points whiuch are used to decide teams' spots within the professional arena. These tournaments eventually lead up to The International, the largest tournament for the game.