There are three certainties in this world: Geoff will always run a tight ship, Darryn will always ship tights (for cosplay purposes… I think), and The International prize pool will grow larger each year. In 2013, the annual Dota 2 tournament had a “measly” $2,874,381 cash total. In 2014, it got bumped up significantly to $10,930,698. This year? Only $15 million and beyond…
That’s right, at time of writing, the prize pool for TI5 sits at $15,023,176! The current split of the winnings remains unknown, but last year’s champions, Newbee, banked 46% of the total – a casual $5,028,121. If the splits remain the same, whoever wins this year’s tournament will walk away with a minimum of $6.9 million bucks!
This is all thanks to the Compendium – a genius idea conceived by Valve to not only grow the prize pool for their competition (as well as their own bank accounts coincidentally), but also rob innocent Dota 2 fans of their money in exchange for sexy in-game loot and goodies. Seriously, I have spent far too much cash on the damn thing myself!
Passing the $15 million mark also means that ALL Compendium stretch goals have been reached – something I honestly never thought would happen. Outstanding rewards include the Immortal Treasure III, the desert terrain, a new music pack, a Bristleback announcer pack, new weather effects, and now, the Axe immortal and longform comic. When all of that will ship is anybody’s guess… Valve like taking their time.
All this begs the question: will Valve add new stretch goals? It wouldn’t be the first time. After last year’s tiers got smashed, Valve added a bunch of new ones. With The International being a month away (August 3 – 8), there is more than enough time for them to bank more cash… erm… reward us more. Will that happen though? Who knows.
Personally, I’m not phased. All I want now really is for The International to kick off so I can sink my teeth into some competitive MOBA goodness! What about you? Do you want more loot, or are you happy with the rewards that currently exist?
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Last Updated: July 2, 2015
Lord Chaos
July 2, 2015 at 10:07
That’s a lot of MEHlah for a MEHba
Admiral Chief's Adventure
July 2, 2015 at 10:07
Now now, calm down MEHnion
Alien Emperor Trevor
July 2, 2015 at 10:09
For the CompMEHndium that funds the prize pool for the InterMEHtional. 😉
Admiral Chief's Adventure
July 2, 2015 at 10:07
Nice one on the alt-text you with the hairy knees!
hairyknees
July 3, 2015 at 10:52
<3
Lord Chaos
July 2, 2015 at 10:14
It bothers me that the prize money was funded by what people spent on buying stuff for a free to play game.
Admiral Chief's Adventure
July 2, 2015 at 10:18
Madness I tell ya
hairyknees
July 2, 2015 at 10:24
It shouldn’t 😛 it’s all optional!
Hammersteyn
July 2, 2015 at 10:32
But what about the people that don’t. Do they not feel left out when they play with people who got loot?
hairyknees
July 2, 2015 at 12:45
That’s up to their fomo I guess 😛
Lord Chaos
July 2, 2015 at 10:36
That’s exactly it!
Raising 15 bar on OPTIONAL content…
HairyEwok
July 2, 2015 at 10:39
I’m ashamed of myself. I spent R400 to get a immortal voidless rex courier. On the bright side i can sell him to get all my money back XD
Lord Chaos
July 2, 2015 at 10:41
Where’s Gavin with a copy and paste of his comment on the $400 space ship.
HairyEwok
July 2, 2015 at 10:48
Like I said at least I sell it for the amount again. I don’t even know if you can sell your ship for real money when you bought it.
Naudran
July 2, 2015 at 11:46
I gather this “immortal voidless rex courier” is a skin for those flying donkeys? (Sorry, only really played Dota 2 a few times).
Was the skin/model/thing R400 alone or do you mean you bought other things with the R400 too?
HairyEwok
July 2, 2015 at 12:04
It was basically a chest you bought for 2 dollars. In the chest you would get 1 of 10 bundle skins and a rare chance for the courier to drop. The courier alone goes for $35 alone. Now I’ve opened 20 of those cases so the extra 10 bundle skins can be sold on the market to for anything from $5 to $20 in total.
Hammersteyn
July 2, 2015 at 10:16
15 MEHllion dollars O_o
RinceThis
July 2, 2015 at 10:53
Urgh…
RinceThis
July 2, 2015 at 11:02
I thought people knew not to feed the trolls?