Valve blocks live DotaTV matches above 8.5k MMR except for friends of participants
2025-03-22 13:05:00Valve closed the access to live games in DotaTV above 8.5k MMR after patch that restricted watching replays and gathering pro player data. The only exception is for friends of the players who play in Immortal Draft. This was highlighted by Russian analysts degaz and Leamare.
This leaves the community with only a few ways to watch professional pubs. One is when high-tier players get into games below 8.5k MMR, so that the rules of Immortal Draft aren't applied. Another one is to watch streams of pros or content makers with high enough rank.
The change also removes another way for the analysts to gather data. Leamare, as the owner of analytical platform, spectral.gg, was directly affected. He previously hoped to be able to use live data. Now, he says he will try to use the high-tier stats ranged from 5.6k to 8.5k MMR games.
The analyst added to previous thoughts on the update. Leamare believes that Valve's changes are fair but is skeptical that it would lead to more creativity in the tournament matches. He expects a polar opposite scenario with professional players being afraid to innovate and experiment. He also worries that the scouting will become significantly harder, as the orgs will struggle to understand what kind of a player they're dealing with.
