The International is a celebration of Dota and the global community of players and fans who support it, providing a chance for everyone to come together and see it played at the highest possible level by the best teams in the world.

While the heart of The International is the community — everyone who makes a short film or a cosplay outfit or a T-shirt design, everyone who yells from the audience (or their couch) to cheer on their favorite team or hero — the matches they gather to watch are its core: When play begins, the focus is on the game itself and the players battling for victory.

Over the years, we've built a number of features into Dota to help celebrate these teams and players; unfortunately during that time we've seen those features increasingly being used not to showcase team or player identity, but rather to host advertisements. This year, to remove distracting elements and allow full focus on the game and the people playing it, we aren't going to have advertisements and sponsorships in-game at The International, including in team banners, base logos, and tags in player names.

We're only a few short weeks away from opening the curtain on this year's tournament. Whether you're meeting up in Denmark, or watching online, we'll see you soon.