DOTA 2’s The International 10 achieves world record $40 million prize pool

There certainly won’t be any shortage of prize money at DOTA 2’s The International in 2020, with a record-setting amount of over $40 million for the prize pool being accumulated.

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The pinnacle of Dota 2 esports is one of the largest celebrations of the popular MOBA, and its record-setting prize pool is a big part of that. Valve usually contributes a baseline of $1.6 million to the pot with the rest coming from player purchases.

25% of all sales for applicable in-game items purchased from the Battle Pass also go into the reward, which has just passed another impressive milestone.

Close to a month after The International 10’s prize pool surpassed that of the 2019 competition’s roughly $33 million mark, it’s now surpassed the ridiculous sum of $40 million.

What’s even more impressive is how quickly fans and players managed to build up to such a staggering dollar amount. In 2019, the then-record breaking sum of $34.3 million was reached in about 110 days before the event began.

The International 10’s prize pool got to that record-breaking number in only 93 days, and reached the $40 million mark roughly a month later just as the Battle Pass ended.

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It was clear shortly after the initial launch of the Battle Pass for 2020, that we could very well be in store for another record-breaking year. On the first day of sales, the contribution from battle pass sales reached $6.5 million far above the previous first-day record of $5.8 million.

Biggest Prize Pools in Esports

1. The International 2020 – $40,000,000+
2. The International 2019 – $34,330,069
3. The International 2018 – $25,532,177
4. The International 2016 – $20,770,460.00
5. The International 2015 – $18,429,613.05
6. Fortnite World Cup Finals 2019: Solo – $15,287,500.00

Source: Esports Earnings

As you can tell from the above graph, the $40 million in prize money far exceeds the high point it’s reached in previous years, exponentially higher than even last year’s record-setting spectacle, which was also miles ahead of previous years at basically every step of the way.

• Read More: Dota 2’s The International 10 sets new prize pool record for esports

Obviously, not being able to physically travel to or watch the premier live event for DOTA 2 esports did little to nothing to dampen fan’s enthusiasm, and as a result, we now officially have a new world record for the largest prize pool at an esports event in history.