Scalping of DoTA 2 The International 11 tournament tickets
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"Nobody likes scalpers. They're the parasitic, dried-up pieces of excrement on the arsehole hairs of gaming, ruining an already expensive hobby for us gamers."
— Larry Bundy Jr., perfectly summarising what's wrong with scalping in his video on scalpers getting instant karma
On May 22, 2022, Valve Software, the developer and publisher of DoTA 2, announced that Singapore will play host to the game's annual world championship tournament, The International 11 (TI11), in a video teaser on Twitter before revealing it to be held from October 20 to 30, 2022.
However, less than an hour after ticket sales for the event went live on August 13, 2022, all tickets were sold out, causing some angry fans to pin the blame on scalpers.
What happened?
Overview of event
On May 22, 2022, Valve Software, the developer and publisher of DoTA 2, announced that Singapore will play host to the game's annual world championship tournament, The International 11 (TI11), in a video teaser on Twitter.[2] 11 days later on June 2, 2022, Valve announced on Twitter and the game's official website that the event will be held on October 20 to 30, 2022, with the world's top 16 Dota 2 e-sports teams competing in several playoff rounds before advancing to the finals, which will be held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.[3][4]
Almost 2 months later on August 13, 2022, sales of the tickets went live through Singaporean ticket reseller TicketMaster, costing S$88 (US$64.02) for a single day of the Playoff Rounds at the Suntec Convention Centre while tickets for the Grand Finals at the stadium cost S$498 (US$362.33) for two days.[5][6][7][8] A maximum of 5 tickets can only be purchased per person for the event.
However, less than an hour after ticket sales went live, all ticket sales were sold out, angering fans and causing them to openly blame scalpers for stealing the tickets from legitimate buyers.
Ticket scalping
Less than 24 hours after ticket sales went live, scalpers began hawking the same tickets at exorbitantly marked-up prices on online shopping platforms like Carousell.[9]
One scalper going by the name of taring666 on Carousell has listed 2 tickets for the Grand Finals at S$5500 (US$4001.70) each, which is 11 times the actual cost of the tickets on TicketMaster.[10]
Another scalper going by the name of retailorresell on Carousell claimed that he managed to snap up 60 Grand Finals tickets and is reselling them for S$1700 (US$1236.64) each.[11]
Aftermath
On the same day that all of the tickets were sold out and not replenished, numerous DoTA 2 fans immediately expressed their disappointment at Valve for the speed of the sellout and their failure to stop the scalpers.
Some DoTA 2 Redditors have stated that they had been saving up for a long time and bought plane tickets to Singapore just to attend the event, only for them to be unable to refund said tickets due to the event's speedy sellout.
News articles on the incident
- E-sports: Scalpers mark up prices for Dota 2's TI11 tickets; lawyer warns of possible offences - The Straits Times (August 15, 2022)
- "No chance to even buy a ticket": DOTA 2 fans left fuming after The International 2022 sold out due to scalpers - Sportskeeda (August 13, 2022)
- SOLD OUT: Dota 2’s The International 2022 tickets Hit By Scalpers - CultureSlate (August 17, 2022)
- Scalpers Resell Dota 2 The International 11 Tickets At S$5.5K, Ticketmaster Urged To Take Action - Must Share News (August 14, 2022)
- TI11 tickets sell out and scalpers sell them for thousands - WIN.gg (August 13, 2022)
- TI11 Tickets Sold Out; Scalpers Are Already Selling Them For Exorbitant Prices - AFK Gaming (August 13, 2022)
- Scalpers sell tickets for sold out Dota 2 tournament in S'pore at up to 11 times original price - Mothership (August 14, 2022)
- TI11 tickets sold out within minutes, scalpers mark up more than 100% - ONE eSports (August 13, 2022)
- Scalpers Exploit Eager Dota 2 Fans: TI Finals Tickets Skyrocket to S$5,500 in Resale, Sparking Outcry and Calls for Reform - The Independent Singapore (August 15, 2022)
References
- ↑ 🤬 When Scalpers Totally Screw Themselves Over | Fact Hunt | Larry Bundy Jr
- ↑ https://twitter.com/DOTA2/status/1528397637434474497
- ↑ https://twitter.com/DOTA2/status/1532071488014065664
- ↑ https://www.dota2.com/newsentry/3190249489765271734
- ↑ https://twitter.com/DOTA2/status/1557777576382214144
- ↑ https://www.dota2.com/newsentry/3371526826694668574
- ↑ https://twitter.com/wykrhm/status/1558272175060135937
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20220812035034/https://ticketmaster.sg/activity/detail/22_intldota2sg
- ↑ https://www.carousell.sg/search/DOTA%202%20TI%2011/?searchId=PNBpx2
- ↑ https://www.carousell.sg/p/dota-2-ti-11-ti-2022-final-ticket-1178437213/
- ↑ https://www.carousell.sg/p/dota-2-ti-finals-tickets-1178265730/