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Dota 2 The International is the top tournament in Dota 2 esports, with a massive prize pool to go with it. Top-tier teams compete in the yearly event to be crowned the kings of Dota 2 and proudly hold the Aegis of Champions in front of their fans. The International is known to have millions of viewers from Twitch and ten of thousands of fans that fly to their ever-changing venues. The tournament is also host to what fans call “Cinderella moments,” where unpopular teams subvert bettors and esports predictors’ expectations to crush the Dota 2 TI favorites to win the tournament.
The prize pool is a marvel, with TI10 having the largest prize pool in the world. The event’s prize pool for the 2021 iteration was $40 million, a huge amount compared to other tournaments that don’t even reach the $3 million mark. Here, we will see how the prize pools have developed since the first The International event, find out what the source of these prize pools is and what the expected prize pool for TI11 is.
History of the Dota 2 TI prize pool
Dota 2 TI’s prize pools were not always this large. The first TI that CIS juggernaut, Natus Vincere, won was $1.6 million. The prize pool remained low for all the following TIs until TI4, where the Dota 2 TI prize pool shot up substantially to $10.9 million. It eventually reached $40 million in the last Dota 2 TI in 2021.
| Event | Year | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| The International 1 | 2011 | $1.6 million |
| The International 2 | 2012 | $1.6 million |
| The International 3 | 2013 | $2.8 million |
| The International 4 | 2014 | $10.9 million |
| The International 5 | 2015 | $18.4 million |
| The International 6 | 2016 | $20.7 million |
| The International 7 | 2017 | $24.7 million |
| The International 8 | 2018 | $25.5 million |
| The International 9 | 2019 | $34.3 million |
| The International 10 | 2021 | $40 million |
| The International 11 | 2022 | $18.93 million |
What is the source of Dota 2’s The International prize pool?
A good prize pool is critical to organizing an esports tournament, and the Dota 2 TI winners won’t miss out! Without an attractive prize pool, the competition may not be as fierce or, potentially, as interesting! . Less interesting matches can then lead to a declining fanbase.
Dota 2 TI’s prize pool keeps the competition hot, giving high stakes for teams to fight over. The source of Dota 2 The International’s prize pool also corresponds to how high it has gotten.
Before it shot up, the base prize pool was $1.6 million. Valve then introduced a new system that allowed fans to invest in the Dota 2 The International prize pool. When Dota 2 players purchase the battle pass, a percentage of the total battle pass funds goes to the prize pool. The fanbase has continuously bought the battle pass, so the prize pool has been rising steadily through the years.
The addition of crowdfunding and other tactics by Valve has helped to boost Dota 2 The International’s prize pool exponentially. Crowdfunding has also led to fans having a strong resolve to contribute to the prize pool to keep Dota 2 TI the biggest tournament in esports. Valve also sells special cosmetics and in-game features that contribute to the tournament when bought.
What was the Dota TI11 prize pool?
With the 2021 prize pool being the largest prize pool in esports to date, Dota 2 TI 2022 had a considerable gap to fill to be better. According to stats, the Dota 2 fanbase has been steadily dropping lately. This is due to some of the fans not getting the experience they wanted at events or online, like the cosmetics in the battle pass.
For Dota 2 TI11, $18.93 million was allocated toward the prize pool, up from the base prize pool of $1.6 million.
Dota 2 TI teams are some of the largest teams in the world and require funding from winnings to keep running. The TI11 prize pool might have been smaller than the previous year’s, but this did not deter the teams’ performance and the energy surrounding The International event.
