Valve retires Dota 2 Battle Pass for 2023, instead promising "fun ideas of all scales and shapes" over the year

The Dota 2 Battle Pass is seemingly being retired. Valve has recently released a post on their official blog titled 'Learning from the Past, Looking to the Future'. In this blog post, the developers have stated that they would prefer to focus on delivering exciting content updates rather than investing their attention on the various cosmetic items of the Battle Pass. This decision has been made based on the success of New Frontier and patch 7.33.

Ever since its introduction, the Battle Pass has been what Dota 2 fans eagerly wait for in the MOBA's calendar year. Packed to the brim with cosmetics and new content, it was a revolutionary move for not only Dota 2 but also the video game industry at large. With its help, Valve was able to offer mammoth prize pools for The International (TI) over the years. Alas, all good things must come to an end.

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Dota 2 fans will see a TI-themed update in 2023, but it won't be called Battle Pass

With the anticipation and speculation among the Dota 2 community slowly rising regarding the upcoming TI in Seattle and its Battle Pass, Valve revealed that the TI-themed update this year won't be called a Battle Pass.

It will still contribute to the tournament's prize pool but won't revolve around new cosmetic items like in past years. Rather, the developers want to "focus on the event, the players, and the games" by shipping "more diverse updates" over the year and building "fun ideas of all scales and shapes" for Dota 2 fans to enjoy.

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Learning from the Past, Looking to the Future

In the aforementioned blog post, Valve mentioned that with the upcoming ten-year anniversary of Dota's public release creeping up, they took a moment to ponder retrospectively on the game's update history.

The post talks about the birth of the Compendium, with Valve wishing those who couldn't attend The International to join in on the fun. That grew into what finally became the Battle Pass.

"Features that earlier in Dota's history might have been fun themed updates, minigames and item sets, arcanas and voice lines, gradually got swallowed by the Battle Pass — new game modes, new functionality, new cosmetics, anything that could fit."

With New Frontiers and patch 7.33, they deliberately chose to work on features and content while shifting focus and resources away from the Battle Pass.

Valve acknowledged that "most Dota players never buy a Battle Pass," but every one of them gets to experience new maps, structures, items, and UI.

"Community response to New Frontiers has helped us build confidence that working less on cosmetic content for the Battle Pass and more on a variety of exciting updates is the right long-term path for Dota as both a game and a community."

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What's next?

For now, Dota 2 players can look forward to the ten-year anniversary update Valve is working on. The post did mention that they were cooking up "some fun stuff," which definitely won't arrive on July 9.

Apart from that, the final Major of the Dota Pro Circuit's current season is scheduled to be held later this month. The Bali Major will be held from June 29 to July 3.