Streamer Alexander "Nix" Levin shared rumors about IceFrog's work at Valve. He heard that one of the creators of Dota 2 had a conflict with the studio management, which led to his departure.
"What's up with IceFrog? It's all hearsay. There's no official information. I heard there was some internal conflict. He didn't see eye to eye with the higher-ups. That's it.
Basically, IceFrog made a patch with neutral creeps and went on vacation. While he was away, Valve released an update and added something of their own. This upset IceFrog. He started sorting things out, and Valve wanted to replace him. As a result, "Dota" died for like 50 years. It was around 2019. As I understand it, IceFrog briefly returned afterwards. Maybe it's just rumors." - Alexander "Nix" Levin
Earlier, Yaroslav "NS" Kuznetsov talked about his communication with IceFrog. According to him, the game designer always responded to the former professional player until he started asking questions about patches.