DOTA 2 The International Prize Pool Reaches Over $40 million

The total prize pool for The International 10, has once again broken the record for the largest amount of prize money offered for a single event.

This is the first time that The International has offered more than $40 million. This year’s event is now the number one largest prize pool in esports history. The top five highest prize pools consist of the same event, The International, from 2015-2019.

The event was due to be held in August of this year, but the Covid-19 pandemic forced the event to be rescheduled. There is no confirmed date for the event to be held, the fluid nature of the coronavirus seems to prevent a solid confirmation for the timing of this in-person tournament. Valve has confirmed that they are looking to hold the event sometime around August 2021 in Stockholm, Sweden.

The value of the prize pool for The International is tied to the sales of Valve’s Battle Pass. For every Battle Pass that is purchased, 25% of the revenue is contributed to the total prize pool for The International.

With a number of different prizes, including three different Arcana’s and two hero personas, Aghanim’s Labyrinth and even the (sort off) scrapped Sideshop, this year’s Battle Pass proved to have more content than any that came before.

The huge prize pool this year can be attributed to the extra time given to the sale of the Battle Pass. The sale of the Pass ends when the tournament begins. Due to this year’s delay, the Battle Pass has been on sale for a longer period of time than previous Passes. Last year’s contributions were accepted for a total of 110 days while this year’s contributions extended for an extra 26 days, totaling in 136.

So, Valve contributed a base prize of $1.6 million, and the community, through their purchases of Battle Passes, contributed an extra $38.4 million. This huge milestone was crossed on the last day when tournament contributions would be accepted, October 9^th.