'Dota 2' The International 7 prize pool may breach $20 million this year

This year's The International 7 "Dota 2" tournament is shaping up to be the biggest one in the Esports history as the prize pool is slowly but surely building up to breach last year's $20 Million prize money. The annual tournament hosted by Valve will be bringing the best teams from around the world to compete for a share of the huge prize money.

Growing contributions

Similar to previous tournaments, Valve has placed $1.6 million as the base prize pot.

Additional money for the prize pool will then be sourced from contributions and Compendium purchases, which has been shown to increase the amount exponentially. For the past several tournaments, the prize money for each succeeding events has slowly been increasing.

Ever since the new prize structure was put in place, the amounts have ballooned to ridiculous proportions. The fifth tournament back in 2015 saw the pool grow to $18 million. It was officially the single largest Esports prize pool during that time. However, it was then surpassed by the prize money offered last year, which went over the $20 million mark.

A record amount this year

As it stands, the prize pool for this year's tournament has already breached the $7 million mark, which already includes the $1.6 million base pot. According to third-party trackers, the growth of the prize pool is up by 12 percent, which means that by the end of the contribution period, the prize may be able to breach the $20 million record set last year. The trackers also reveal that this year's prize pool growth is the fastest it has been since the tournament's inception.

The funding source

The vast majority of the funds going to the prize pool is from the newly released Battle Pass that Valve had released just a few days ago. Everyone who purchases the Battle Pass is directly contributing to the pool.

Based on its growth, it would be safe to say that a large number of people are showing their support for the tournament. It goes without saying that they are also actually getting a good deal out of the purchase as the Pass does include a lot of nifty new content. The Pass includes access to a new co-op campaign, an in-game wager feature, a new terrain, and several unique in-game items.

Tournament schedule

Several open qualifying rounds have already taken place across different parts of the world. The next open qualifiers for The International 7 will be taking place on June 22 and June 25. The regional qualifiers will then follow on June 26 and June 29. Valve has announced that the main event will be held sometime in early August. Unfortunately, no fixed dates have been revealed just yet.