Back in 2011, the game’s developer, Valve Corporation, held the very first International tournament in Cologne, Germany with a prize pool of around $1.6 million. Since then, The “DOTA 2” International has become one of the enormous eSports tournaments in the world. Having said this, let’s take a look how it stands today.
History in the making
“The International 2017” is the seventh annual edition of The International. The tournament will be hosted in Seattle, Washington. According to dota2.com, it currently has a staggering $22,623,377 prize pool (as of July 27, 2017), which is exactly $2,444,931 more than last year’s tournament.
Moreover, "Dota 2" fans still have 16 more days to purchase the Battle Pass which, in turn, will add more money to the prize pool.
The upcoming event will be held from August 7 - 12 and will take place at the Key Arena in Seattle again. The format will be deadly at the start due to its single elimination matches of the Open, Main, Wildcards and the Group Stage Qualifiers. So far, 18 teams will participate in the competition with the hopes of becoming this year's The International champions.
Exciting teams to look forward to
As the event inches nearer, "DOTA 2" fans are excited about the upcoming fights. Many will look forward to Team Liquid, Evil Geniuses, and Team OG this year. Based on esportsinsider.com, these teams displayed their talents in different parts of the world and showed great promise in preparation for the big event.
Both Team Liquid and Evil Geniuses were the finalists of the recent Epicenter 2017 tournament held in Moscow a few months back with the former emerging victorious. Team OG, on the other hand, is determined to win the International 2017 as this is the only milestone that they have yet to achieve. With four Major victories under their belt, the team is looking forward to adding more.
Fans all around the world are eager to watch greatness unfold. With thousands going to watch in-person and millions more to watch online via live streaming such as Twitch and YouTube, it is truly a phenomenon of this century.
What the future holds
It has always been a trend that prize pools increase with every succeeding International, and crowdfunding should take credit for this.
With Valve’s help, they could create more options for crowdfunding such as opening a physical store with purchasable items from the game or maybe some exclusive costumes made by the company themselves.
