Valve has decided to discontinue the Battle Pass for The International

Valve has made the decision to discontinue the annual release of the Battle Pass in honor of The International tournament. The developers announced this on the official Dota 2 website.

Instead, in September 2023, Valve will release a "thematic update" dedicated to The International 2023. The main focus will be on the event itself, the players, and the matches, although new cosmetic items will have a secondary role in it. Nevertheless, the update will still allow direct contributions to the tournament's prize pool.

Valve also shared their plans for the future regarding the development of Dota 2. They announced the upcoming tenth anniversary of the full release of the game and promised interesting changes and improvements throughout the upcoming decade.

Valve acknowledged the history of Dota 2's development and mentioned the Battle Pass, which has become a significant part of the game's content. However, they concluded that focusing on cosmetic rewards for the Battle Pass hindered their ability to create diverse and exciting updates for all players. As a result, they decided to revise their approach to content releases and focus more on varied updates accessible to all players.

Valve emphasized that they will continue to support The International and are working on a thematic update for the tournament. They also expressed their interest in the future possibilities of Dota 2 and their ongoing work on upcoming updates and cosmetic items.

The International 2023 tournament is scheduled to take place from October 14 to 29 in Seattle. Teams from around the world will compete for a minimum prize pool of $1.6 million. The full list of invited teams for the tournament will be announced after The Bali Major 2023 concludes.