MLG announces that Dota 2 will not be at the Championship in Anaheim

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In a statement released on the MLG website they have now confirmed due to the heavily crowded June schedule for Dota 2 with Dreamhack Summer and ESL One being on either side of the MLG Anaheim event that they are no longer in a position to support Dota 2 as one of the venue's titles.

With the International 2014 event being moved to July it has left them with no alternative dates to use so they will instead go ahead with their current lineup of Call of Dity, Smash Melee, & Starcraft 2.

MLG's Executive Vice-President, Adam Apicella, provided the following statement below.

It is with great disappointment that we announce Dota 2 will no longer be featured at the MLG Championship in Anaheim this June. No one is more disappointed than I am. Over the last eight months, we have been dedicated to helping grow the Dota 2 scene in North America and beyond. I personally have strived to have a very open dialogue with the players, teams, fans and leagues in the Dota community in order to deliver compelling competition and broadcasts.

As you know, Dota 2 activity in the US and around the globe has skyrocketed over the last few months with multiple events recently announced for this summer. While we are extremely happy to see the continued growth in popularity, the vast number of tournaments greatly impacts our ability to hold a successful Dota 2 tournament at the upcoming MLG Championship in Anaheim. Holding tournaments so close together, especially before the biggest Dota 2 event of the year – Valve’s own International, puts tremendous stress on players and affects their overall performance.

We always strive to provide our competitors with the optimum conditions to ensure they can compete at their best and ultimately deliver the most compelling broadcast to our viewers. With the current schedule, that is simply not possible and we want to avoid putting added stress on teams.

Over the coming months we will continue to showcase Dota 2 competition via MLG.tv programming and will closely monitor the landscape to determine when it makes sense to bring Dota 2 back into the MLG Pro Circuit.

I want to thank the Dota 2 community for their incredible support over the past few months and ask for your continued understanding as we assess the situation moving forward.

Sincerely,

Adam