The annual Dota 2 tournament, The International, is normally held in either Europe or in the US, with one event taking place in Shanghai, China. But things will be a little different this year, as Valve has announced that come October, the tourney will be held in Southeast Asia for the first time. More specifically, it will be held down south in Singapore.
Valve made the announcement on Twitter, sharing only the location and the month in which this year’s edition of The International will take place. It’s accompanied by a montage of previous winning teams, but that’s about it. So there’s still a lot of missing details to say the least, from the exact date beyond the month of October to the prize pool.
Singapore.
October 2022.
The Aegis of Champions awaits. pic.twitter.com/938wBjqrGE— DOTA 2 (@DOTA2) May 22, 2022
On the subject of date, an October window is a little out of the norm, but not entirely unexpected. After all, The International 2021 took palce in Bucharest, Romania between 7 and 17 October, despite previous tourneys happening in July or August. As for the exact location, a tweet by Dota 2 influencer Wykrhm Reddy has shared an image that suggests that the tourney will be held in two locations. They are the Indoor Stadium and Suntec Arena.
The International 11 will be hosted in Singapore — The grandest stage of them all comes to South East Asia. #TI11 #Dota2 pic.twitter.com/FeOEOG3lnS
— Wykrhm Reddy (@wykrhm) May 22, 2022
Prior to the reveal, the official Dota 2 account has been putting up a number of teaser tweets. These include a couple of photos that have been clearly taken in Singapore, namely the shots with the Merlion and the Marina Bay Sands hotel towers. Others are more debatable, especially that one shot with satay as the main subject.
With The International 2022 scheduled to take place so close to home, the possibility of catching the tourney live is higher than ever before. That being said, tickets to the annual Dota 2 tourney have been historically high, so that’s still a challenge to surmount. And then there’s the very likely issue of scalpers to contend with.
(Source: Valve, Wykrhm Reddy)
