Ceb announces Monkey Business’ withdrawal from Games of the Future 2025, citing the tournament’s political ties

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I’m really bummed to hear that the team with those three amazing veteran players is pulling out of Games of the Future. Apparently, all the drama and controversy surrounding the tournament has made them decide it’s best to not participate, and honestly, I can’t blame them.

Sébastien “Ceb” Debs, a two-time winner of the prestigious The International Dota 2 championship, announced on X (formerly Twitter) that his team, Monkey Business, will skip the Games of the Future 2025 tournament. This decision comes after the team received negative feedback online regarding their potential participation.

The worries raised with Ceb all relate to the tournament’s connection to the Russian government, which has been criticized internationally since invading Ukraine. The former OG player explained that he and his team prefer to avoid events that become overly political, even though they’ve received many upsetting comments.

Monkey Business’ withdrawal from Games of the Future 2025

When Monkey Business, a team of former Dota 2 pros, was announced, it quickly gained a lot of attention. Fans were excited to see these legendary players compete again.

Joining Ceb on the team are his previous teammates Johan “N0tail” Sundstein and Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen. Completing the lineup are popular streamer Janne “Gorgc” Stefanovski and experienced support player Johan “pieliedie” Åström, who previously played for Team Secret and Cloud 9.

The same day Monkey Business announced its team, a Reddit post from former Dota 2 pro player Ghostik appeared, criticizing the ex-OG players. He questioned if accepting funding from Russian sources was worth being seen as part of Russian propaganda.

Ceb announced on X that his team would quickly address the issue, and on December 9th, they officially announced they were dropping out of the tournament.

The Games of the Future faced criticism from the Dota 2 community in 2024 when it was revealed the event was sponsored by Russia, and some of its partners had close ties to the Russian government. Russian President Vladimir Putin was present at the opening ceremony, along with high-ranking officials from Belarus, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan.

Games of the Future Dota 2 start date

The tournament hasn’t said yet which team will take the place of Monkey Business. Meanwhile, Vikings, still competing in the event, has lost two players: Max “qojqva” Bröcker and Niklas “Wagamama” Högström have both left the team.

So, I’m really excited for the first matches of Games of the Future 2025 kicking off on December 14th in Abu Dhabi! It’s awesome they’re bringing back some legends – guys like w33, MinD_ContRoL, Loda, and BurNIng are all gonna be there, even though they’ve stepped back from the pro scene. It’s gonna be a blast seeing these old pros compete again!

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2025-12-10 21:15