Shanghai Major nightmare acknowledged by Valve: “We will be increasing our involvement”

The Shanghai Major nightmare in terms of production, planning, coordination, and communication has been acknowledged by Valve. A $3,000,000 tournament of such magnitude should not have had such persistent technical and organizational problems. Valve has vowed to take a more involved approach moving forward, as an effort to prevent repeating the Shanghai Major fiasco.

The next Dota 2 Major is scheduled to take place in Manila, Philippines, in early June.

Shortly after Team Secret’s amazing Grand Finals victory over Team Liquid, 3:1, Valve released a congratulatory statement to the team.

Within the release, Valve has expressed acknowledgement of the overall Shanghai Major experience that will probably go down in Dota 2 history as one of the biggest organizational wash-outs.

While the details of the shortcomings that plagued the Group Stages and first few days of the Main Event remained unspecified, the company did vow to become more involved in future events, to ensure that both participants and viewers have a high quality experience.

While there were amazing performances by all of the teams participating in the Shanghai Major, we recognize that the viewing experience and the overall execution of the event were very disappointing. Dota fans and professional players alike have high expectations for a Major event—expectations that we share—and it is ultimately our responsibility to make sure those expectations are met and exceeded. A Dota Major should be a celebration of the amazing community that shepherded the game from humble origins to the global passion it has become. Disappointment should come from the elimination of a favorite team in a hard-fought match, not from the experience of just trying to watch a game you love. With that in mind, we will be increasing our involvement moving forward to ensure that future events deliver a high-quality experience.

The Shanghai Major nightmare

The Shanghai Major got off to a poor start. Technical difficulties and significant delays were problematic from the very first match on the opening day. Hours of downtime, horrible sound quality, bad lighting, generalized technical issues, and lack of communication are just a few things on the list of complaints regarding the event.

James “2GD” Harding, the host of the Shanghai Major, was fired mid-series on the second day of the Shanghai Major group stage. During a two-hour long pause in the second series of the day, Harding had tried to fill the gap and entertain the masses, but was met with dismissal for his antics and content of his discussions on the panel.

Jorien “Sheever” van der Heijden and Dakota “Kotlguy” Cox stepped in to take turns hosting during what was overwhelmingly viewed as a tense, stressful situation.

The following day, the production company contracted by Valve and Perfect World to handle production – KeyTV – was fired as well. There was no production crew for the panel during the Shanghai Major Group C and D games. The broadcast was streaming the raw footage with the talent doing their best to create a makeshift panel and production.

KeyTV was hired to be responsible for the English production of the Shanghai Major. Since the first day, the event has faced severe technical difficulties, including major delays, audio problems and stream stoppages.

The Shanghai Major fiasco on social media

Long lists of tweets, blogs and vlogs from players, personalities and staff at the event started to make their way to social media, highlighting all of the problems that they were facing on the grounds.