The International is perhaps the biggest annual esports event in the entire world, and a big reason behind it is the humongous prize pool that TI events boast. For instance, with over a whopping $40,000,000 prize pool, TI10 still holds the title for the esports tournament with the largest prize pool in history.
However, from the current looks of it, it seems that the TI11 prize pool might be taking a big hit when compared to the previous years due to a number of reasons.
At the time of writing, the TI11 prize pool is the third-lowest in the history of all TIs. Taking a glance at the Dota 2 prize pool tracker, we can see that the TI 2022 prize pool is currently just over $13,000,000, which is lower than that of all TIs from TI7 to TI10, and alarmingly close to that of TI6.
Why Does TI11 Have a Lower Prize Pool?
There are a number of reasons contributing to the significantly lower prize pool of TI11 when compared to those of the previous years. The most obvious reason is that this year’s Battle Pass seems to be rather underwhelming, which a good portion of the fans of the title agree with.
The second reason is that a good chunk of the content included in this year’s Dota 2 Battle Pass is locked behind Part 2, which will release around November 3, 2022. However, none of the proceeds made from the Battle Pass sales during Part 2 will go toward funding TI11.
The third reason could be a result of the public resentment of Valve for a combination of the first two reasons mentioned above. Many Dota 2 players have voiced their opinions on social media forums and have chosen to not buy this year’s BP due to it being of worse quality than previous years or in protest against Valve locking a portion of the content behind Part 2.
The fourth reason that may heavily impact the prize pool is the fact that this year’s Battle Pass will have much less time to crowdfund the prize pool for TI11. The TI10 Battle Pass had 139 days to crowdfund The International 2021 while the TI8 and TI9 Passes had 110 days each to fund their respective tournaments. However, the TI11 Battle Pass will effectively have only about 59 days to fund the prize pool for The International 2022.
In conclusion, it’s safe to say that the vast majority of Battle Pass-related purchases will be made during Part 1 of the Pass, and a quarter of it will still be funding the prize pool of TI11. However, from the initial looks, it doesn’t seem that this year’s TI will be able to reach anywhere close to the world record-setting prize pool of $40,018,195 by TI10.