Professional Swedish streamer Jean Gorgc Stefanovski commented on the words of The International 2022 champion from Tundra Esports Skiter about the return of IceFrog to work on Dota 2. Stefanovski noted that he also heard about the temporary departure of the developer from the MOBA development team for another game. At the same time, the streamer believes that the break is over and Dota is waiting for a big patch.
Gorgc confirmed that he also heard about IceFrog retiring from active Dota 2 development about a couple of years ago. IceFrog hasn't dealt with Dota for a long time. He supposed that IceFrog was working on another game. And that's why the previous patches were such garbage.
Skiter revealed that Valve promised to set up Tundra members to meet IceFrog in 2023. At the same time, SKiter noted that the developer of Dota 2 moved away from the active growth of the game for two years, but after the end of TI11 he returned to the team. Official information on this issue from Valve has not been received.
Recall that Valve has not updated the Dota 2 map since April 2021, when the territories around the outposts underwent minor changes. After that, the developers only added new heroes and also balanced the old ones. Many professional players have since stated that they hope for volcanic transformations that would affect not only the landscape but also the economy of the game. The new patch is due out “in early 2023” and brings a new character, Muerta, to the game.