The MOBA Dota 2 has broken its own record. With over 34 million dollars in the prize pool (approximately 29 million euros), they are distributing the largest prize money in the history of eSports. And that’s only because the games have spent much more.
Where does the prize money come from? The International is the World Championship in Dota 2, held every year and one of the biggest eSports spectacles in the world. It usually takes place every August, but in 2020 the tournament had to be postponed indefinitely.
In 2019, The International set a record with 33,330,068 dollars in prize money. Currently, the counter for this year is even higher – at 34,464,793 dollars (via dota2.com). This is only slightly more, but the collection is not yet complete.
Until the tournament actually begins, there will surely be a substantial amount of money gathered. The US site Forbes believes that the prize money will grow to around 35 million.
Players buy an insane amount of stuff in Dota 2
Where does the money come from? The prize money does not come directly from the publisher and developer Valve, but essentially from the community. They have all year to buy the Battle Pass for Season 2020.
From this revenue, 25% goes into the prize money. This means that, when backtracked, players in Dota 2 alone spent 137,405,448 dollars last year. That corresponds to over 116 million euros.
For comparison: A German citizen earns an average of nearly 2.4 million euros in his entire life if he works for 50 years (via statista). It’s no wonder, then, that Dota 2 has had the richest teams in the world since 2015.
Of course, the winner does not get all the money. But at least in 2019, the winning team earned a whopping 15.6 million dollars. Enough to never have to work again.
Making money by gaming? Dota 2, with such prize money, is among the games you can easily play as a profession – if you are good. However, the competition is correspondingly fierce. Everyone wants a piece of the pie.
Although the genre itself is already somewhat aging, MOBAs are still very popular in 2020. This applies not only to Dota 2 but also to its biggest competitor in the field, League of Legends. The games are even ideal for leisure time. MyMMO author Maik Schneider says: If the summer lull of 2020 annoys you, start a MOBA.
