'Dota 2' The International 2017 Beats Record for Biggest Prize Pool in eSports History
If there was ever a poster child for crowdfunding, it would be the "Dota 2" The International, the biggest tournament in eSports. For four consecutive years, developer Valve has tapped on the game's player base to increase the overall prize pool of the tournament to a ridiculous amount.
The tournament made headlines in 2011 with the first eSports tournament to feature a grand prize of $1 million. This dwarfed other leagues' prize pools back then and set a precedent for outrageous prize pools in the industry.
It was in 2013 when Valve introduced the compendium, a digital book for that year's The International. The compendium devoted a quarter of its sales to the overall prize pool and gave away rewards for every milestone met. The grand prize for the event later topped $2.8 million, which was a huge amount for an eSports event at that time.
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Now, with less than a month away before the seventh "Dota 2" The International, the prize pool has ballooned to over $20 million. This could reach as much as $25 million before the main event kicks off this Aug. 13.
A total of 18 teams will compete for this outrageous amount in Seattle. With such a huge prize pool, even those in last place will take home a huge chunk of cash at the end of the tournament.
This year, China seems intent on securing its fourth Aegis with a quarter of players hailing from the country. Last year's champion, Wings Gaming, was a Chinese team which made China the only country to win the tournament twice in a row.
Offering nearly half as much as "mainstream" sporting tournaments is certainly no joke. This huge prize pool for the "Dota 2" The International 2017 shows just how much eSports has grown from its humble beginnings in the '90s. But for those who play the game, doing something you enjoy is what really matters and the money is just the icing on the cake.
