Credit: Valve Corporation
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- The prize pool for Dota 2‘s The International 2019 tournament has topped $30M USD to date.
- The total is primarily crowdfunded via in-game Battle Pass sales, with 34 days of funding left until the final tally is reached.
- The International 2019’s prize pool has now surpassed the $30M pool of this coming weekend’s Fortnite World Cup.
The prize pool for The International 2019—the de facto Dota 2 
world championship—has topped $30M to date, beating the prize pool for the upcoming Fortnite World Cup finals.
As of this writing, The International’s prize pool sits at $30.2M, which beats the 2018 record of $25.5M. The prize pool can continue to grow for another month, as well, until the end of the actual tournament on August 25.
The International’s prize pool primarily comes via crowdfunding. Dota 2 publisher Valve contributes the first $1.6M, with the remainder provided by a percentage of sales from the game’s Battle Pass. The purchase lets players unlock in-game content and access The International Compendium, which includes a Fantasy Challenge for the tournament.
Related Article: Esports Essentials: Why is the Prize Pool for Dota 2’s The International so Large?
Every edition of The International has surpassed the prize pool of the previous year ever since Valve introduced the Battle Pass in 2013. Each tournament has also set a new record for the largest prize pool for any single esports event. Last year’s winner, OG , took home $11.2M of the $25.5M pool.
This year’s prize pool surge is especially interesting in the wake of this coming weekend’s Fortnite World Cup finals, which has a $30M prize pool provided entirely by Epic Games .
With 34 days of crowdfunding left and the $30.2M tally already 29% of last year’s prize pool total at this point (according to the Dota 2 Prize Pool Tracker), the final amount could still be significantly higher. The International 2019 takes place at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai from August 20-25.
