TSM’s entry into Dota 2 was an unexpected surprise to many fans when the organization signed Team Undying in January, but it appears that the deal may have also been a bit of a surprise to some internal personnel too.
According to a report by The Washington Post, TSM’s 10-year, $210 million deal with crypto exchange FTX deal ran into multiple “speed bumps” even before TSM announced today it was suspending its partnership, one of which involved the very nature of the naming rights deal as Riot Games immediately made it clear TSM would not be able to display FTX’s branding in League of Legends. As a result, one former TSM employee noted that CEO Andy Dinh and other TSM leadership started looking into esports that would allow the TSM FTX co-branding to be used.