Steven R. August 29, 2020
With just a few weeks left in its lifespan, Valve is now pruning down on the benefits of The International 10 Battle Pass.
A Dota 2 developer took to Reddit and delivered the bad news that the Trove Carafe 2020 will likely not be arriving as a part of the TI10 Battle Pass. Alongside that, he stated that other parts of the battle pass may not actually arrive as previously scheduled.
“The current situation has had an impact on our development capacity, so it is unlikely that there will be a Trove treasure this year. We are hopeful that Windranger arcana and Immortal Treasure 3 will be coming within the next couple weeks or so, with Windranger coming out first,” the developer stated.
This is a disappointing but unsurprising move from Valve. The publisher is historically poor when it comes to launching games in a timely manner, even in the most ideal circumstances. Having to move much of the development team's work online probably hasn’t helped matters and may be pushing the publisher into picking and choosing what to actually deliver on.
The news still didn’t sit well with many fans, particularly those who had already paid for the battle pass.
TI10 Battle Pass has consistently disappointed.
TI10 Battle Pass makes millions for Valve, still disappoints players and fans
The TI10 Battle Pass has been an amazing financial success for Valve, but fans have consistently vented their frustration with it.
The entire battle pass launched inauspiciously with an extended downtime. This was followed by lingering server issues that saw entire regions unable to play for days at a time. More recently, players were dissatisfied by some of the top prizes in the TI10 Battle Pass, including the Anti-Mage and Pudge hero personas.
While Valve has tens of millions of dollars to relieve any frustration over this, things haven’t exactly gone according to plan for the publisher either. Though the battle pass is the highlight of the year for Dota 2 fans, the game’s player count has steadily dropped since its launch, negating all of the gains that were made earlier in the year.
The short-term payoff for Valve continues to be there, but things are growing more worrisome when it comes to Dota 2’s long-term outlook.