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Scalpers Are Ruining The International 2019

Fans watching the Dota 2 International streams noticed lots of empty seats in the arena, and attribute it to scalping practices from Chinese vendors.

• by Silas White
• Aug 20, 2019

The International 2019, the playoff tournament for the Dota Pro Circuit, is underway at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai. Thousands of fans gathered both in the arena and on twitch to watch their favorite teams compete in Dota 2 at the highest level.

However, many fans on stream noticed large swaths of empty seating at the arena, which the twitch chat quickly attributed to ticket scalpers.

Many fans have taken to Reddit to voice complaints and post pictures of empty seats. One picture, posted by user clispii, shows the crowd holding a banner that reads “Shame on you, damai. cn.”

Damai is the website Valve partnered with to sell TI9 tickets on the Chinese market. According to fans, the tickets were sold out in minutes. Several fans have complained on Twitter and Reddit that they were left on a loading screen and unable to secure tickets. Almost immediately, however, tickets were already popping up on other websites at incredibly high prices. Tickets worth $300 reportedly jumped to over $1000, or even higher.

I really want to go to TI9 but so far all the tickets I can see are from scalpers, 3x the price. The original prices were already kinda steep. 🙁

At the airport but sadly not going to Shanghai for #TI9 .. I’ve been to every @DOTA2 International since TI2. Will miss the environment and experience of watching exciting games live. Hopefully next years event will be easier for fans to ge tickets and not scalpers.

According to a since-deleted post on Weibo (a Chinese blogging site) a special URL was being provided to scalpers to help them buy tickets faster by removing the need to input the early access code.

Many have been blaming Damai, and attributing the high prices to the Chinese company. However, they aren’t the only entertainment company to have shady practices. Ticketmaster has been known to work with scalpers as well. According to the CNBC article, Ticketmaster has been known to use a software known as Trade Desk, which allows scalpers to instantly buy tickets and post them to resale websites, similar to what fans are accusing Damai of doing.

This isn’t even the first time The International has been subject scalpers immediately buying tickets for massive markup. TI7, held in Seattle, faced similar issues.

Other users on Reddit have pointed out that attendance during weekday games has always been low, and that attendance skyrockets during weekend matches.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if scalping was worse this year due to Damai or the Chinese market. It remains the case that many fans didn’t get a chance to attend to due to insane price gouging that could have been avoided.

Silas White is a freelance writer with a love for all things gaming. Previously he’s been a lifeguard, local news writer, and administrative assistant. The first game he ever played was Super Mario 64, and he’s been hooked ever since. His favorite genres are RPGs and action games. He follows competitive Overwatch, Smash Bros, and Dragonball Fighterz. A graduate of Ithaca College’s journalism program, Silas wrote for his school paper, the Ithacan, and at one time was the co-editor for the Life and Culture Section. He wrote about video games whenever he had the chance, including a story covering the schools League of Legends team. His favorite games are The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Devil May Cry 3, Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid 3, and Halo: Reach. Right now he’s pacing around his room in anticipation of Halo: Reach being re-released. When he’s not playing videogames Silas enjoys cheering for the New York Yankees, watching anime, following the latest trends in technology, and listening to music. Look for him on Twitter @swhite_5 if you want to chat about gaming, voice acting, or why Halo will always be the best FPS series.