Valve announces Dota 2 world championship 2019 in Shanghai

The developer of the multiplayer game Dota 2, **Valve** Corporation has announced where its next Dota 2 world championship, The International 9 will take place. In a video which takes a quick look at all the past championships, it is revealed in the end that the event will take place in Shanghai in 2019. At The International 8, as the finals between Evil Geniuses and PSG.LGD was approaching, Valve made the announcement. This has been seen by people as a rather unconventional move by the company because, in the past, it hasn’t been very open about revealing the locations of the upcoming tournament.

It is no surprise that the Shanghai has been the chosen location, because of two reasons. One, Shanghai will soon become home to hundreds of esports companies as the city is opening a dedicated business park aimed towards local and international esports companies, according to a report by Shine. Two, that some of the best players in the championship have been from China in the recent past. The dates for the event, however, have not been declared yet. This year, two new heroes, Grimstroke and Mars, were announced as new playable characters for Dota 2, and you can play Grimstroke right now if you like.

Grimstroke was made available on 24 August and you can gather from the trailer that his weapon is a lethal brush that “marks your fate.” “Graceful, sophisticated, cunning and cruel, Grimstroke channels vile forces through the profane ink of his runebinding brush,” describes his character page on the official website.