Team Spirit's manager has responded for the first time to the new rules for The International 2024

Dmitry "Korb3n" Belov, manager of Team Spirit, considers the decision to remove all in-game advertising from The International 2024 to be not very beneficial for the industry. According to him, this could lead to a monopoly or negatively impact esports.

He discussed this during a Twitch stream.

"I talked to more influential people, and they outlined it for me. In general, higher-ups said it was done very poorly. Specifically, the way it was presented. What’s bad is that it was announced just a week before the tournament. That’s really bad, it’s sort of unfair"

Korb3n noted that he learned the opinions of quite influential figures regarding Valve's decision, and they were particularly dissatisfied with the fact that the new ban was announced very late, just a week before the tournament. The Team Spirit manager also shared his thoughts on what this might be related to.

"As for the reasons, there are some interesting thoughts. It was the organizers who imposed the ban, right? They prohibited all teams from doing it, correct? They officially announced that they won’t be selling ads at all, right? But they didn’t say anything about themselves. What I’m saying is, if Valve or contractors have a title sponsor, then from a business perspective, it’s understandable. I just don’t remember the text saying they won’t be selling ads. So not only the teams, but also Valve. If they have a title sponsor, then it’s clear—monopolized, they have the right. If there’s nothing at all, neither for Valve nor for contractors, then it’s just their choice. The most important thing is that it doesn’t spread throughout the industry and become the norm"

It is worth noting that earlier a well-known analyst hinted that the new rules for TI13 might not have been entirely Valve’s decision and that the organizers might have been forced into it.