Judging from current numbers, it’s looking like The International 11’s prize pool won’t impress quite as much as previous years.
Every Dota 2 fan knows that The International is the year’s most important and prestigious tournament. Professional teams compete in the DPC throughout the year so that they can get as many DPC points as possible. Those who secure enough receive a direct invitation for TI, whereas others need to go through qualifiers.
Speaking of The International, this tournament became popular even outside of Dota 2. One of the reasons for the huge media attention is the event’s record prize pool. The International is the best esports event regarding prize pools because it often reaches jaw-dropping numbers.
That said, it seems like The International 11’s reward won’t be as impressive as the rest.
The current prize pool
As mentioned, The International is the best esports event when it comes down to the prize pool. Hence, it shouldn’t be surprising that the previous versions of this tournament are in the top regarding the reward. In fact, a quick check shows that The International from 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021 hold the first five sports in terms of the highest prize pools.
Naturally, people assume that The International 2022 will continue this tradition and come on top. However, judging by the current reward, it seems like this won’t be the case.
When Valve released the Battle Pass, TI 11’s prize pool quickly exploded because 25% of all transactions go to it. In just 24 hours, Dota 2’s biggest competition gained more than $7M, which made some people think that the event would break yet another record. However, a couple of weeks later, it seems like this won’t be the case.
At the time of writing this article, The International 2022’s prize pool is ~$12.5M. This number might not seem that low, but it is significantly less than it should be if we compare it to last year’s I. In fact, the data shows that TI 9’s reward around the same period had more than $1.5M more, whereas TI 10’s reward was $2M higher.
Predictions & Problems
Considering that TI’s current prize pool is much lower than it was a few years ago, it is highly unlikely for this year’s event to break any records. There is still time left, but unless Valve comes up with something special, this year’s event won’t have such an impressive reward.
There are a couple of reasons why this year’s The International will most likely not continue the trend of breaking the previous year’s prize. Let’s see some of them.
The 2022 Battle Pass has 2 parts
Even though the 2022 Battle Pass is probably the best one we’ve seen so far, it seems like it is not that attractive because people don’t buy it. There are a couple of reasons why this is the case, and the main one is Valve’s decision to split it into two parts.
As you know, Part 1 of the Battle Pass lasts between September 1 and November 2, which means it will include TI itself. However, the second part of the Battle Pass will start on November 3 and last until January 12, 2023. Even though this in-game item will be available for a couple of months, the second part won’t affect TI’s prize pool because the tournament will be over.
Speaking of the Battle Pass’s effect, this thing offers tons of cosmetic items, chests, Arcanas, Personas, and much more. However, only some of them are available in Part I, which means that most people do not see a reason to buy levels right now when they can’t get what they want. Sadly, this has a negative effect on TI’s prize pool because some players will wait until Part II to start getting levels.
Not that many players
Even though Dota 2 is one of the biggest esports in the world and the go-to MOBA for many players, it seems like there are just not that many players. Not many people talk about this problem, but you don’t need to be an expert to see it. Some of us have to wait for more than 15 minutes for a game.
There are all sorts of statistics out there regarding the players, but some of them are truly frightening. If we look at the number of active players in February of 2016, we can see that more than 709,000 people played Dota 2. Sadly, this is not the case in 2022 because we only had 450,000 players in February. In other words, more than 40% of the active players are no longer a part of the game.
The fact that there aren’t that many people who play Dota 2 has an effect on the Battle Pass, so it shouldn’t be surprising that it also affects TI’s prize pool. Even though some players spend way more money than others and make up for those that don’t buy this item, a 40% loss in players (the numbers aren’t that drastic for every month, but you get the point) will definitely have an effect.
Some players unhappy with the Battle Pass
Even though we believe that the 2022 Battle Pass is the best one yet in terms of the rewards it gives, some players might disagree. The fact that they do not like the rewards means that they don’t see a reason to spend the money and get the item.
Even though Immortal Treasure I might not be the best one we’ve seen, Void’s Arcana is really good. Another thing we need to remember is that we are yet to see the second and potentially third Immortal Treasures. What’s more, Valve will probably release special chests that can only be purchased for a couple of days. Who knows, those things might provide amazing items that will encourage some people to get the Battle Pass.
We have around 20 days until The International 2022 starts. Whether this will be enough to have a record-breaking prize pool is too early to say, but by the looks of it, this won’t be the case.
Speaking of TI, we already know the names of almost all teams that will take part in it. That said, the Last Chance qualifier will occur a couple of days before the event. It will allow us to see which will be the last two teams to take part in the competition. As for the even itself, TI 2022 will take place in Singapore.
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