Quinn Announces Retirement from Professional Dota 2

Usually, the post-TI roster shuffle season is a really exciting time but the first official announcement to come is much, much sadder. Quinn “Quinn” Callahan has announced that he will be retiring from professional Dota 2. The announcement came via a video message posted on his social media.

A heartbreaking announcement

In the emotional video, Quinn spoke of how this decision has not been made quickly and from the timeline, seems to have nothing to do with Gaimin Gladiators’ sudden withdrawal from The International just a few days before the tournament was set to begin. He explained that the commitment no longer felt worth it to him and “Over the 2024 season, I wrestled with that and decided that 2025 would be my last year”.

The most heartbreaking part of this announcement was the confirmation that it was filmed before TI took place and clearly before Quinn knew that his team would not be taking part.  “I don’t know how it ends yet…if we won, it’s incredible…it’s a perfect end to a tumultuous and beautiful few years.” Knowing what we know now, this is tough to watch.

No last ride

Anyone who has been around in Dota the last few years will be well aware of Quinn and the Gladiators immense domination through 2023. After winning all 3 Majors that year in Lima, Berlin and Bali, the team went on to place 2nd at The International, after being defeated 3-0 by Team Spirit in the grand final.

While 2024 was no way near as dominant, this team fought through and, devastatingly, placed second at The International after yet another 3-0 defeat at the hands of Team Liquid. This is why it was so bitterly disappointing for Gaimin Gladiators fans to have their team not make that third attempt this year and now, it seems it just won’t be. After the “he said, she said” of the withdrawal news, we’re still not sure exactly what happened but it would have been fairly wild to think any of the players would continue to play under the org’s banner in the 2025/2026 season. I, for one, did hope that they’d stick together and form a new team. It remains to be seen whether the rest of the team will stick around.

Love and thanks from the Dota community

Quinn took the opportunity in his video to thank all of those who have helped him including his parents, his teammates and various other Dota personalities including caster SVG. To end on a lighter note though, this is hopefully not the end of Quinn. He also confirmed his intention to seek work as talent going forwards and stay involved in Dota.