Dota 2‘s The International, one of the largest esports tournaments in the world, has broken its own record as the most lucrative esports event, with this year’s prize pool already exceeding $ 34,396,000. The previous record was a prize pool of $ 34.3 million from last year’s event.
Dota 2 developer Valve was forced to postpone this year’s iteration, The International 10, indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That delay was announced in April. Valve has not announced a new date yet. It is not clear if the tournament itself will take place in 2020 at all.
Valve said it “can not yet commit” to a new date for The International 10 or the return of the Dota Pro Circuit, a series of events that will determine who qualifies for The International, in a tweet on Monday.
Following the evolution of the global pandemic, the recent increase in the unpredictability of COVID-19 means that we are not yet able to commit to new dates for TI10 and the DPC. We share your eagerness in returning to these events, and will post updates as soon as we can.
– DOTA 2 (@ DOTA2) August 25, 2020
The prize pool for the International Tournament is funded by purchases from the Dota 2 battle pass, which costs $ 9.99 (or $ 29.35 to unlock 50 additional levels, or $ 44.99 to unlock 100 levels at once). These passages reward players with rewards and cosmetics throughout the game as they progress through the levels. A quarter of the proceeds from slaughter pass purchases will go towards the prize pool for the massive tournament, so as long as players continue to buy, the pool will continue to grow.
Valve had previously announced that the current battle pass would be available until 19 September. That’s enough time for the price pool to grow.
