NatTea: “At the beginning of this year, I thought esports was over for me, and that this would be my last year.”
Host Natalie “NatTea” Mahoney, on the “Last Free Nation DotA” podcast, responded to a question about whether she’s happy with her current professional success by revealing that she might have left esports in early 2026.
Honestly, I don’t know how to answer that. Because earlier this year, I thought esports was over for me, and that this would be my last year. I thought, “That’s fine—I’ll go back to my old life, and I won’t treat esports as a full-time job, but just run tournaments every now and then. And I’ll still enjoy it—it’s still my passion. That’s life; I love the four or five years I’ve spent here.”
But I think I’m truly happy that I didn’t give up. I wrote to every contact I knew, saying something like: “Hi! Would you like to discuss a bunch of ideas with me? Would you like me to do this or that? Maybe different games? I have a lot of ideas, and I really watch and love these games!” And people would reply: “Hi! We know about you. Would you like to host a tournament in Japan?” Of course I would! That sounds awesome.
Earlier, Natalie “NatTea” Mahoney talked about how she got into esports and compared the Dota 2 and Counter-Strike 2 communities.
Photo by Igor Bezborodov, BLAST.
