The group stage of the main e-sports tournament for Dota 2 begins tomorrow - August 2. But even before its beginning, The International 2017 managed to set a record - the largest prize fund in the history of the event. At the time of preparation of the material, it is $ 23,207,133. The team that will take the first place will receive at least $ 10 million. And this is not the maximum: the exact size of the prize fund will be known only at the end of TI - August 12. And this means that he can become more for several million dollars. Specifically for AIN.UA, the StarLadder team prepared material on how the prize pool of The International was formed in the beginning and how it is formed now.
Dota 2 is a cybersport discipline that for many players has long ceased to be just a "game". Starting with a custom modification for Warcraft III, it reached its peak in the form of the Defense of the Ancients, with regular tournaments and quite large for the 2011 prize. Record for the discipline prize - $ 45,905 for ACE Dota Pro-league 2012 Season 1.
All this was just the beginning of a great story. In 2011, Valve took the Dot out of the computer clubs, announcing The International 2011. The tournament was held at GamesCom 2011 in Cologne - at the same time, a completely new Dota 2 was presented. The prize fund exceeded any reasonable framework of $ 1.6 million. Nobody Could not believe that it was true. But it is even harder to believe that now this amount is dripping into the "prize money box" weekly.
How does this happen?
Every year, starting from 2013, a special subject is released for the tournament - before that it was the "Compendium", now - "Combat Pass". Its owners receive in-game items and rewards, and developers take 75% of their profits. The remaining 25% are sent to the general prize pool of the same The International. Additional amounts come from sales of levels of combat passes and treasuries with exclusive items.
The developers do not change their contribution to the prize fund from 2011 - it stably makes $ 1.6 million. The increase comes thanks to the efforts of the players, as the required level of "Combat Pass" is growing to receive all awards. So in 2014 it was 500, in 2015 - 1000, and in 2016 and 2017 - 2500 level, for which the owner will have to give out of his wallet to $ 919.
Since there is no maximum level, there is no limit to donate. So the player with the nickname Archangel Yuji last year increased his combat pass to 55,000 level, and this was not limited to 100,000, spending the last about $ 45,000.
This year, only on the first day of sales, the prize fund increased by $ 3 million. In 87 days after the release of the TI7 Combat Pass, it amounted to more than $ 23 million, which is $ 2,557,489 (11.92%) more than the record amount in the history of e-sports. The record is $ 20.7 million and also belongs to Dota 2, but TI 2016.
While everyone has an increase in prize money, Valve's income proportionately increases, although it remains behind the scenes. So, the net profit from the "Compendium" in 2013 brought the company slightly more than 3 million, and in 2016 it has already exceeded 50 million!
These dimensions are not comparable with the prize fund of the World Cup, but the winners' revenues already exceed the prize in the Tour de France, the World Series of Poker and the world golf tournament. What can we say about other e-sports disciplines. The only competitor of Dota 2 in the top 5 was the League of Legends. In 2016, Riot games adopted the model of increasing the prize fund from in-game sales and increased the prize fund of the main tournament to just over $ 5 million. Earlier it was $ 2,130,000 and has not changed since 2014.
The difference in payments is noticed in other disciplines. A cybersport analyst and journalist, Duncan "Thorin" Shields, in a tweet shared a remark:
Due to the constantly increasing prize for e-sports, there is a heightened attention: not only spectators but also sponsors come. On large sports grounds, sections appear on "electronic" sports, at the legislative level in many countries video games are recognized as sports disciplines.
For The International in Valve, they invented and implemented the largest crowdsfunding campaign in the history of games. It not only minimizes the costs of organizing the tournament, but also creates a resonance among the gaming community. But to keep this system from year to year, developers need to heat up the situation by increasing the amount.
Last year, Valve set a direct goal for the community: if the prize fund The International 2016 will be more than the prize The International 2015 - and this is $ 18,429,613 - all owners of the militant pass will receive the Trust of the Benefactor 2016 - a treasure trove with in-game "buns": from Immortals to A unique gold set of items for the hero.
This year to maintain the pace had to raise the bar to the rarity of Arcana - the most expensive and rare item in the store, which can not be obtained at the end of the tournament.
To increase the prize pool and award the winner a round sum of $ 10 million, 8 days before the start of the group stage Valve added additional awards for achieving the 2000 level of Combat Pass: an exclusive model of Roshan.
Like the aegis, the player will receive a "live" copy of the in-game item, the size of 8.5 × 9cm, and the unique in-game image of Roshan himself, which, like the Aegis effect, expires on May 1, 2018.
But, despite the growing numbers, the prize pool of The International with each next tournament is not so rapidly increasing. Perhaps $ 23 million in prize money is the bar on which the tournament will be fixed until the developers find another way to encourage players to spend extra.
Post created by @hrytsenko