Moving into its 3rd year, Valve’s Dota 2 competition “The International” has kicked off with some booming numbers, notching approximately 400,000 simultaneous viewers hours into the first live-broadcasted match over the weekend, based on a tweet from Valve writer Ted Kosmatka.
The tournament’s whopping $2.8 million prize pool is the largest amount of prize money ever given out in an esports tournament. What’s crazy is the fact that this figure is still set to climb further. For every $10 spent on purchasing a virtual compendium specially done for this event, $2.50 is added to the total prize pool. From an initial base amount of $1.6 million, the support of the fans has collectively helped drive an additional $1.2 million to be distributed among players. This effectively translates into a grand total of 480,000 compendiums purchased in support of this initiative since it went live in May.
It is the first time in 3 years since the competition began in 2011 that Valve has attempted something new like this, deviating from the fixed prize pools of $1.6 million offered in both 2011 and 2012. This successful crowd-funding exercise has helped it shatter the previous record of $1.97 million offered during League of Legend’s season-ending championships held last year in Los Angeles.
To entice fans to pick up the compendium, Valve has cleverly implemented a set of stretch goals to motivate them and drive sales. These include giving buyers the opportunity to vote for their favorite players as participants in a special 1v1 side tournament throughout the event at the $2.4 million mark. There are several other milestones which provide unique cosmetic items and couriers with the final one of $3.2 million giving compendium owners the chance to make the decision for Valve regarding the next Hero updated into the game. With the way things have been progressing, I would not deem it impossible for one final hurrah from the fans to make that final mark.
The international 3 runs from August 3rd to August 11th spread out over the Westin Hotel and the Benaroya Hall in Seattle. Only one out of the 16 teams participating will walk away with the top prize of $1.4 million (based on the current prize pool).
You can follow the schedule of the tournament on the official website here and download the Dota 2 client via Steam here.
Editing by Charlie Custer
DOTA 2’s ‘The International 3′ Hits $2.8 Million in Prize Pool Money
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