Yesterday (Jan. 22) Valve announced The International 2025 (TI14) will be held in Hamburg, Germany. While Dota 2 fans are thrilled about the announcement, so is the debate on how much TI14’s prize pool will be – and whether it will once again dip below the $3 million mark.
Image Credit: Valve
TI14, The International Prize Pool Set To Reach New Low?
The Internationals Championship isn’t what it used to be. Gone were the days when Valve released Battle Pass for TI to generate community-driven funding for the prize pool. At its peak, TI10 generated a whopping $40 million prize pool, thanks to the sales of Battle Passes.
However, last year’s TI was a far cry from any of our TI prize pool expectations. At a mere $2.7 million prize pool, last year’s TI prize pool was the lowest since TI3.
Image credit: Valve
How will TI14 prize pool be funded?
If Valve continues its recent plans for TI, chances are that we won’t be getting a classic Battle Pass for TI14 too.
That means the only source of contribution to TI14 will be from the Compendium. It’s essentially an in-game pass that offers TI-exclusive perks, such as voice lines, HUD, and fantasy cards of participating Dota 2 players. In general, the Compendium does not have any fancy Dota 2 skins that used to be released exclusively from Battle Pass.
Why did Valve removed Battle Pass?
Valve reportedly removed Battle Pass in response to Dota 2 pro players’ comments on increasing the Battle Pass’ sales contribution into the TI prize pool. Apparently, the 25% of all sales from Battle Pass contribution into TI prize pool wasn’t sufficient, so the players wanted more, citing that Valve wouldn’t have made such amount in sales if it wasn’t for the talents.
As such, some believed that Valve removed the Battle Pass to prove a point, that Battle Passes sold tremendously well because it featured exclusive and beautiful Dota 2 skins.
However, there were also rumors that the Battle Pass was unsustainable for them to create annually. Many of the Dota 2 skins from Battle Pass are outsourced from third-party artists and creators, and Valve would rather get lower sales but keep most of the Compendium sales to themselves.
Realistically, with an initial prize pool of $1.6 million from Valve themselves, we can estimate the International 2025 prize pool to be as low as $2 million this year.