Dota 2 tournament grand prize breaches $18 million — still growing
The 2016 Manila Major Tournament held in the Mall of Asia Arena last June brought world-famous Dota 2 teams from all across the globe to compete against each other and improve their chances of getting into The International Dota 2 tournament.
The prize pool for Dota 2’s premier tournament, The International 2016 (TI6), has reached a whopping $18 million, the biggest in any eSport by far, and it’s bound to get even higher.
According to the Dota 2 prize pool tracker website, the tournament’s total prize pot broke the $18 million mark around midnight Thursday. As of 8:25 am GMT Friday, the prize pool is at $18,127,368.
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Crowdfunded Competition
Unlike most competitions, whose organizers solely provide for the prize pool, TI6 owes its enormous prize pot to the thousands of dedicated Dota 2 fans around the world.
READ: Philippine eSports: The Past, Its Present and Our Future
Article continues after this advertisementWhen the tournament was first announced, Valve provided for a base prize pool of $1.6 million, to which tournament patrons could contribute by purchasing The International 2016 Battle Pass.
The Battle Pass includes a variety of exclusive in-game cosmetic items for its owners, and costs $9.99 or P470. With each Battle Pass purchased, Valve devotes 25% of the sales to the ever-growing prize pool.
Valve first began crowdfunding its tournaments in The International 2013 with the International compendium, which continued until The International 2015.
The biggest ever?
The biggest so far, The International 2015 with around $18.4 million, also exceeded most traditional sporting tournaments like the Super Bowl and the 2015 Masters Golf tournament, with approximately $8 million and $10 million respectively.
With around 18 days left before the tournament officially begins on August 8, its prize pool is sure to get higher, and might exceed $20 million.
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