Gabe Newell is back doing the one job only he can do. Valve’s co-founder and president appeared in a short prerecorded video to open The International, Dota 2‘s world championship, closing with the line the community has treated as tradition for over a decade: “Welcome to The International.”
The clip was filmed in a waterfront setting, which immediately set off guesses about where exactly Gaben was recording from. Some viewers thought they recognized a European harbor town. Others assumed he was simply on a boat. Valve didn’t confirm the location, and given Newell’s well-documented interest in the ocean, boats, and marine research, either guess is plausible.
Newell also looked noticeably slimmer than in most of the photos that have fueled a decade of gaming memes, with a shorter haircut and trimmed beard. He looked healthy and in a good mood, which was enough to make his appearance a talking point on its own.
The presentation also included a nod to The International’s history, with a reference to 58 players. That number tracks as the count of unique champions rather than teams multiplied by five, since several players have won the event more than once.
A tradition that keeps shrinking and surviving
The International started in 2011 at Gamescom in Cologne, where Natus Vincere took home a $1m first prize that felt absurd at the time. The event grew into esports’ biggest payday, peaking at over $40m in 2021 thanks to Battle Pass crowdfunding.
Valve later dropped that model, and prize pools fell hard. The Dota Pro Circuit was scrapped after 2023, leaving third-party organizers to fill the calendar. The International survived all of it as the game’s defining tournament, and this year’s edition brought it back to Germany, with Hamburg hosting.
Longtime fans had one complaint. Newell used to deliver the welcome in person, and plenty of them said they miss that version of the ritual. Others admitted they don’t even play Dota and still got chills from four words.
