Valve is not taking nicely to the strict anti-drug regulations of the Philippines, as the developers have now retracted their financial backing for "Defense of the Ancients 2" (DOTA 2) tournaments in the country due to the regulations.
The "DOTA 2" representatives have announced that they will no longer be backing the official e-sports tournament in the Philippines due to how invasive the regulations of the country are to the privacy of the professional gamers. This means that the Galaxy Battles 2018 tournament will no longer be supported in the Philippines, which is unfortunate for the aspiring professional gamers in the country.
The said regulations compel both local and international players to take mandatory drug tests before they can even enter the country, let alone play in the tournament. The organizers of the competition then felt that this was an unnecessarily unreasonable infringement on the privacy of all the players.
This, however, does not mean that the tournament is canceled. It can still proceed, but this time, without the involvement of Valve or the representatives of "DOTA 2." Essentially, the tournament is no longer official but can still have backers which are not affiliated with the developers.
As such, the "DOTA" Team is now discussing options with the organizers of the said tournament in the Philippines, and they are now looking for alternative sources of financial backing and support in order for the tournament to continue. They are now in talks for a replacement major with the teams involved in the tournament which could also give them another shot at gaining the backing of "DOTA" Pro Circuit, another official backer of "DOTA 2" tournaments.
That said, it seems the damage has already been done since some of the teams and players have also backed out of the tournament once Valve withdrew their support. This was because without official backing, and the Galaxy Battles DPC points that go along with that backing, it isn't worth participating in. However, it remains to be seen whether the organizers of the tournament can gain another source of official backing.
