Tundra Esports explained why Valve actually didn’t manage to release a new Dota 2 hero

Valve allegedly did not announce a new hero at The International 2025 because they did not have time to complete its development — most of the employees were transferred to work on Half-Life.

Tundra Esports analyst Degaz said this in his Telegram channel.

“I read somewhere that the developers did not have time to make a new hero because of Deadlock. This is close to the truth, but not quite so.

Right now, most of the Dota 2 and CS2 teams are indeed working on a new Valve shooter. But this is not Deadlock, but the new Half-Life (HLX). Many Deadlock developers have also been temporarily transferred to finalize the project, which is why there have been large delays between patches there.

The main stage of development, apparently, is already coming to an end. The teams will soon return to their projects”

Degas emphasized that the hero was not finished precisely because of the priority work on Half-Life, and not because of Deadlock, as the Dota 2 community believed. Moreover, even in Deadlock there were delays with updates for the same reason.

According to him, Valve's new project is already in its final stages, so Dota 2 developers will soon be able to return to developing MOBA.

Recall that Valve previously disappointed millions of Dota 2 fans by not announcing a new hero in the grand final of The International 2025.