Dota 2 TI 2023 Prize Pool Shows Slowest Growth Since 2014
The International (TI) 2023, Valve’s annual Dota 2 eSports competition kicks off in early October, but something strange is happening with the prize pool. The prize pool for TI has grown every year since it started in 2011, but 2023 looks to offer pros the lowest prize pool to compete for in almost a decade.
Fans are confused about why the prize pool is so low, but they’re also not surprised, given the usual source of funding has been turned off and delayed. If something isn’t done soon, the prize pool may remain low, making it a struggle for pro teams to turn a profit even if they win.
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TI 2023 Prize Pool for Dota 2 is Off to The Slowest Start in Years
In the past, Dota 2’s Battle Pass sales have added to the prize pool for each TI. Since the competition’s inception, Valve has always put up $1.6 million, and up until 2021, the pool saw year-on-year growth. However, fans started to get complacent with Battle Passes, leading to some volatility in the total prize pool for each year.
TI 2023’s prize pool sits at a total of $2,234,630 at the time of writing, according to Dota 2 Prize Tracker. While we’re still yet to hit the end of day 1 of funding, it’s the slowest growth a TI prize pool has seen since 2014 and may end up being the lowest day 1 prize pool since then too. While it was reported earlier this year that Valve would pony up $3 million as the base prize pool, we’ve seen nothing to suggest it has at the time of writing.
Fans seem to be switched on to Valve taking more money from this year’s contribution item than in previous years. It indicates that the company needs to reap more profit from the game to keep supporting it, but it could cost the eSport
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