Dota 2’s TI8 has the biggest esports prize pool ever

Dota 2’s biggest esports competition, The International, returns this week, as TI8 kicks off in Vancouver. But even though the tournament itself has barely begun, records are already being broken, as this year’s competition offers the largest prize pool for a single event in esports history. With a total pool of more than $24.78 million, TI8 has beaten the record set by last year’s competition - TI7 offered a (still enormous) prize pool of $20.77 million. Since the competition began in 2011, Valve has put forward $1.6 million of that prize money, with the rest crowdfunded by the community. Previously, that crowdfunding came through something called the Compendium, with each successive year increasing the total prize pool as players bought in. This year, however, Valve replaced the Compendium with a $10 Battle Pass, with 25% of the profits from that system being added to the prize pool. That does of course mean that while around $23 million is being given to the pro players, Valve will have pocketed a healthy $70 million or so for themselves.

from PCGamesN https://ift.tt/2jJ9srS