Valve will no longer be meeting with The International participants, - Team Spirit manager

Dmitry "Korb3n" Belov, the manager of Team Spirit, stated that Valve will no longer hold personal meetings with The International participants, as it hardly makes sense anymore.

He shared this in his Telegram channel.

"There was no call with Valve, and I don’t think there will be. I don’t quite understand what Valve would say during it. They no longer oversee tournaments, except for TI. The professional season schedule is known until 2026. And they left their wishes and rules on the welcome letter. We always want to 'touch the Valve,' but I understand the developers. The only thing I regret is that it seems I’ll never see Gabe in person during my career"

According to him, Valve has almost completely distanced themselves from organizing tournaments, so there’s simply nothing for them to discuss with esports players. Korb3n is a bit disappointed by this, but he fully understands the developers' position.

He also reminded that at The International 2024, Valve left a fairly detailed welcome letter. In it, they not only laid out the main precautions but also mentioned that TI13 will be unique, as something like this is happening for the first time in 13 years.