Dota 2 Tournament prize pool is now over $8.5 million

Published , by Blake Morse

If you’re not a Dota 2 player or haven’t spend much time with the popular MOBA, it may be time to consider polishing up your skills. This year’s prize pool for the Dota 2 Internation tournament has already surpassed over $8.5 million and continues to grow. It took less than 24 hours for this year’s prize pool to break the previous $6 million record set last year.

The Dota 2 International Tournament Prize Pool has already broken last year's record by over $2 million

For those not familiar with Dota 2, it’s widely considered to be the mother of all MOBAs. The first Dota started life as a Warcraft 3 mod and went on to inspire not only its own sequel but lead to the development of other popular MOBA games like League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth.

According to a report by Variety, the Dota 2 International prize pool comes directly from the sale of the game’s battle passes. Battle passes retail for $9.99 and offers perks similar to programs found in games like Fortnite and Rocket League such as customizable towers and special gameplay modes like a battle royale. For each Battle Pass sold, 25% of the sales goes directly into the prize pool. Which means a lot of folks must be forking over their hard-earned dollars to get themselves a Battle Pass this year.

While the Dota 2 International tournament prize pool has surpassed $8.5 million, it’s still climbing even higher. It’s hard to say where the number will finally stop, but if you want to contribute or get a chance to earn some new custom towers, you can grab a Battle Pass now for $9.99. The Dota 2 International is set to start on August 20 and will run until August 25. We’ll be sure to keep you up to date on all the latest Dota 2 details.