Valve has fired its 'Dota 2' Shanghai Major tournament host

Gabe Newell, head honcho at Valve, has abruptly (and very publicly) fired 'Dota 2' Shanghai Major tournament host James "2GD" Harding. Newell made the announcement via Reddit on Friday, stating "We've had issues with James at previous events. Some Valve people lobbied to bring him back for Shanghai, feeling that he deserved another chance. That was a mistake. James is an ass, and we won't be working with him again." Newell also confirmed that he'd fired the production company responsible for the tournament's broadcast.

DOTA 2 is Valve's most popular Steam game and the subject of four prestigious tournaments every year. The Shanghai Major alone doles out $3 million in prizes to the 16 participating teams. That's not exactly the appropriate stage for Harding to blurt out "cunts" and make masturbation jokes, as he did earlier this week, which likely figured heavily into his dismissal. The production company, for its part, was reportedly terminated over shoddy broadcast quality. The Shanghai Major's early matches have been beset with laggy video and out-of-sync audio.