HellRaisers is back in Dota 2, re-signing its previous roster after previously suspending all of its organization’s operations in March during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Now, instead of waiting until the war concludes to continue competing, HellRaisers is taking a direct stand against the war by moving its operations to Serbia and refusing to take partners linked to Russia.
“We stand against the war and we want to keep doing what’s important for us—playing, competing, and expressing our position,” HellRaisers said. “Therefore we have decided to relocate our organization to Serbia. Additionally, we refuse to cooperate with any partners and counterparties from Russia.”
The organization will not be returning to full operations just yet, as management notes it will need to rebuild the company infrastructure from scratch as it works towards “a new history” for HellRaisers.
For now, the team is bringing its former Dota roster, made up of Alimzhan “watson” Islambekov, Maxim “re1bl” Afanasyev, Yaroslav “Limitless” Parshin, Geogrii “Gilgir” Svistunov, and Arman “Malady” Orazbayev, back under its banner after initially letting them explore other sponsorships on March 2. The lineup did not sign with another organization and has not played in any events together as Valve indefinitely postponed the Spring Tour of the Dota Pro Circuit for the Eastern Europe region.
Management will provide further updates as the organization continues to rebuild its operations, but previously they confirmed that all staff retained their jobs and were still working despite the pause. Now it is just a matter of getting things up and running again.
