Valve’s method of collecting funds for The International Dota 2 Championship prize pool is pushing entirely new boundaries. After barely two weeks of putting the Dota 2 Compendium on sale, the company has gathered more than US$6 million (RM19,664,781) in prize money. It has also achieved all the original stretch goals, and has had to add completely new ones.
The new stretch goals include the chance to vote for new hero skins and voice packs, and a new skin for upgrade creeps once all the enemy barracks are destroyed. Wondering if Valve will hit these goals is an exercise in futility as there is still another two months before The International finals take place in Washington, USA.
Considering the prize offering is only 25% of the total sales of the Compendium, it would appear that Dota 2’s revenue model is substantially higher than anyone could ever have imagined. The increased prize pool should help push the prominence of eSports into the mainstream and further establish it as a legitimate sport.
