Monkey Business, a stack of players consisting of former TI-champion players for OG and streamers, has withdrawn from UAE-hosted tournament Games of the Future after community backlash.
In an announcement posted on the evening of Dec. 8, on Sébastien “Ceb” Debs’s Twitter/X, the former OG player confirmed the team would not be participating in the event.
The announcement ends a weekend of controversy, which we covered previously. Monkey Business, a stack associated indirectly with OG, had faced criticism due to Games of the Future’s and organizer Phygital’s connections with the Russian State, China, and the UAE government.
In Ceb’s announcement, he explained the reason for withdrawal:
“When an event becomes too politicized, for any reason, we prefer not to take part. We believe we should have the right to stay outside of these political matters and keep our focus on our passion and esports.
Some of the reactions over the past days have been hurtful, even if we understand the concerns behind them. Hasty conclusions and online outrage can lead to harmful outcomes; taking the time to seek proper information is essential. That is what we have tried to do, and it ultimately guided our decision.”
As a result, Monkey Business’ withdrawal came just days after their attendance announcement. It should be noted that the statement posted by Ceb was co-signed by Johan “N0tail” Sundstein and Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen. Streamers Johan “pieliedie” Åström and Janne “Gorgc” Stefanovski have not confirmed or refuted their Games of the Future participation.
Additionally, at the time of writing, other stacks of famous and high-profile Dota 2 players are still competing in the event. Nigma Galaxy, for one, will be competing at GotF with a modified version of their main roster, albeit under the full Nigma Galaxy title. That roster will consist of Yawar “YawaR” Hassan, Aliwi “w33” Omar, Ivan “MinD_ContRoL” Ivanov, Bader “islA” Hannoun, and Elias “Nagato” Alhaj.
However, since Nigma is an Emirati organization, their continued participation is perhaps not surprising. In 2024, the organization pulled out of a previous edition of the event for undisclosed reasons.
What is surprising is the participation of “Vikings,” a stack featuring current and past Alliance members, including team founder Jonathan “Loda” Berg, Team Liquid streamer Max “qojqva” Bröcker, Henrik “AdmiralBulldog” Ahnberg, compLexity Gaming’s Niklas “Wagamama” Högström, and current Alliance roster member Joakim “Akke” Akterhal.
At the time of writing, these other stacks and organizations had not received significant criticism.
As previously reported, Games of the Future and Phygital Entertainment have drawn criticism due to their connections and alleged funding by the Russian Ministry of Tourism, Sport, Culture and Communications. The 2024 edition also saw Chinese and Russian government officials in attendance, and reportedly support from both states.
Those critical of Games of the Future point to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine as well as both government’s controversial standing in global geopolitics as reasons to boycott the event. The record of human rights abuses in the UAE as catalogued by organizations such as Amnesty International have also been pointed to as reasons to avoid the event.
Last year’s edition (Games of the Future, 2024) saw Nigma Galaxy, and US-based organization nouns, pull out of the event. Neither organization gave a reason for the departure.
Games of the Future 2025 is set to start next week, on Dec. 14.
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