With approximately $500,000 raised for the TI5 prize pool, thanks to The International 2015 Collector’s Cache that was released merely hours ago; Dota 2 has done it again and amassed $11,251,180 for the prize pool. Only $1.6 million was put into the pool by Valve when this began, and after a couple of months, Dota 2 players have contributed about $9 million into the pot. The last record was from Dota 2’s TI4 which was $10,931,103 including the $1.6 million that Valve ALSO started the the prize pool with.
Dota 2 has consistently been putting so much into their prize pools; according to a quick chart, before TI5, Dota 2 had taken the 3 highest spots with previous Internationals and the Dota Asian Championships. Next was Smite’s World Championships and League taking the next 3 spots with the League World Championships. Every year the prize pool seems to increase for all of these eSports, and it’s extremely exciting to see eSports rise up to become these juggernauts that have such a massive following!
Going back to the stretch goal, Valve promised if the prize pool hit $11 million, they would also provide a brand new terrain for the map: Desert terrain. Hopefully this will be a toggleable permanent addition much like the HUDs and loading screens that you can obtain; since they’re all just aesthetic additions. Just 4 more stretch goals left until the 15 million goal is smashed and the community exceeds Valve’s expectations! With things like the Cache and other little things that Valve can encourage fans to add more to the prize pool, 65 days left is going to be too much time!