In gaming, there is talk of the “e-sport winter”: The former gaming trend e-sport is becoming less and less worthwhile. Even the otherwise pampered professionals of DOTA 2 (Steam) notice this: Their tournament “The International” has always been considered incredibly lucrative, in 2021 there was a prize pool of 40 million US dollars – but 2023 looks very different. The professionals might be pleased if they even manage to gather 5 million $ in the end.
What kind of tournament is that?
- “The International” is the club world championship of DOTA 2.
- Valve provides a relatively small base amount as a prize pool: 1.6 million $. However, each year a lot of money comes from sales of DOTA 2 via the huge PC platform Steam: In 2021, the prize pool was huge and amounted to over 40 million US dollars. In 2022 it was “only” about 18.9 million US dollars.
- However, in 2023 the prize pool will be much lower. It is expected to be the lowest prize pool of the tournament since 2013, when the prize money was only “2.8 million $.”
Departure from the Battle Pass lowers the prize pool for the tournament
How much prize money is there supposed to be in 2023? It is not yet entirely clear, but it is known that the prize pool will be significantly lower this year than in previous years.
Currently, it is estimated to be below 5 million $. That would be the smallest prize pool in 10 years.
Currently, there is 4 times less money in the pot than at the same time last year
What is the reason for that? The money from the base price comes from the sales of the “Compendium”, which is a kind of Battle Pass.
However, in 2023 the Battle Pass has much less content than in previous years: Valve has decided not to invest so much energy and time in developing the Battle Pass and wants to focus more on quality.
This has led to the Battle Pass in 2023 being bought much less frequently than in previous years. Therefore, the revenues and consequently the prize money for the tournament are much lower.
At the moment the prize pool after 6 days is only at 2.8 million $. In 2022 it was already at 10 million $ at the same time (via dota2.prizetracker).
Apparently, Valve has consciously separated from the huge sums associated with the departure from the Battle Pass, which were played every year in The International
.
If this continues, even the impossible could happen: Players might win The International
in DOTA 2 and not become overnight millionaires.
