Castaway "There's people in SEA asking for 10,000 Dollars a Month"

Part three of our interview with Travis "Castaway" Waters has us dive into the problems with getting rid of the DPC, how the current competitive environment only benefits top teams, and the current salaries for SEA players.

Castaway on DPC removal: "In the long term, I think it's very bad"

After The International 12, Valve announced that it would abolish the DPC and take a step back from the scene. This move has allowed third-party tournaments to spring up, but it has come at the cost of the scene's stability.

When asked if removing the DPC is good or bad, Castaway had a nuanced take on the matter.

"Short-sighted answer is good, because more tournaments, more money, Happy happy! But in the long term, I think it's very bad. Because if you ask yourself the question, fundamentally, how do we carry on funneling Dota talent and funneling teams and sustainability? Where does that come from now? Because as an org, previously you had support via the DPC. If you qualify, you're going to have all of the prize winnings, it was like constant income. Maybe not enough to be profitable, but at least it's something."

Valve invested a substantial amount of money into the DPC, with 14 out of the 16 teams making money, ranging from USD $5000 to USD $30,000 for all six regions.

This doesn't take into account the half-a-million-dollar Majors, or the salaries for the Talents, production, and licensing fees. It was a lot of work for Valve and in the end they decided it wasn't worth it.

The Banner for PGL Wallachia.
Credits: PGL

In 2024, the Dota 2 scene has seen an explosion of third-party events, ranging from USD $50,000 to million-dollar events. This has been an incredible injection of money into the scene, but nearly all of it has gone only to the best teams, with little for up-and-coming stars.

"Now, lets say you're an org like Neon, that isn't at the top of their region, like top 1-2 consistently. You are going to be funding some salaries, BootCamp, and then all other small expenses, and every month that's just what you're throwing out. And what are you getting back? because sponsors nowadays, they're keen to sponsor but only the teams that go to the big events. Well they don't really need the sponsors, obviously they want it and it's ideal for them, but they don't need it. It's more cream on the cake, we're still building the cake here, and there is no materials to build the cake." - Castaway.

Travis was blunt about the state of the scene, it's very much a "rich getting richer" and poor getting poorer situation. He shared that he might enjoy the current state of the game if he was dominating the competition, instead of climbing the ladder to the top.

"And I think everyone feels that way, except for like the top 20 teams in the world. If you're a Liquid, if you're a Team Spirit, I'll be having a different interview. I'd be saying, hell yeah, more money for me, it's awesome, I'm getting direct invites for these things. It's easy peasy, it's lacquer. I don't have to play these long lengthy qualifiers as people call them. They call DPC a long qualifier. But DPC, I mean, it's so good for the evolving talent. Like the casters or the players, there's something to follow. There's light at the end of the tunnel. Now it's like you have to forge your own light and that's very difficult."

Castaway: "There's people in SEA asking for 10k USD a month"

Castaway competing in WESG. (Source: WESG).

Now that he is out of Neon, Travis is excited for the next phase of his career and a big part of that is negotiating with different organizations for the best home to settle in.

Besides examining his potential teammates and living area, Travis also talked about money, and the incredibly high expectations some players have right now.

"Everyone's asking big salaries, every player now wants these bigger and bigger salaries. But how can we sustain this? I hear what people are asking, because obviously now I'm in the whole asking game and it's crazy to me. I laugh sometimes. There's people in SEA asking for like eight or ten thousand USD a month, and they're not even like a tier-one player. I don't want to be mean, these people are so detached from reality, you need to see the scene and see who you are in the scene and then ask away. Not just like "I was on a team once, we played in a Major in 2020, and now I want to ask this money". I just wish Dota players were a bit more sane."

We asked Castaway about his future and what he plans to do. We were glad to hear that he had good news in both his personal and professional life.

" I have quite a few offers, I'm not trying to brag. But I have some offers which I'm very happy about, two that are looking very promising. And I have some others that I need to see how it goes in other regions and stuff. I'm not sure if I'm going to leave, I have my girlfriend here, we're looking to get married and stuff like that in the Philipines. But I'm still open for offers and stuff like that at the moment."

We wish Castaway all the best and thank him for taking the time to share so much with us. If you're looking for more, check out parts one and two of our interview here.

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Featured Image Source: Neon Esports