Last year, Dota 2 set an outstanding record of $18,429,613 for their prize pool in their biggest annual tournament, The International. This year, Valve’s most popular MOBA game has again broke their record in just two weeks before the 2016 main event starts in Seattle.
Valve found a unique approach to raise to prize pool for the tournament. Each year, the company starts by giving $1.6 million from their own to start and then lets the crowd fill it up through sales of in-game perks, quests and cosmetics to the game. In 2016, Valve again enticed the players with Battle Passes and Compendiums together with weekend sales.
The Internationals is now the most popular e-sports tournament as of now. Over the past 12 months, Valve has partnered The International with four $3.0 million tournaments called The Dota Major Championships.
As of writing the current prize pool for The International is at $18,537,151.
