Participants in The International 2026 qualifiers encountered a serious bug

During a Dota 2 open qualifier match for The International 2026, a bug occurred that allowed opponents from different teams to hear each other.

Alexey “Storm” Tumanov noticed the incident during a stream and also reported it on his personal Telegram channel.

While Alexey “Storm” Tumanov was watching his subscriber Myrzilbl4’s match in the first round of the open qualifiers for The International 2026, the opposing team called a timeout in the opening minutes, during which players from both teams could hear each other. The cause of the glitch is unknown, but it may be related to an error in the lobby settings.

As a reminder, Valve previously changed the rules for The International 2026 following last year’s scandal involving the removal of Gaimin Gladiators from the tournament.