DOTA 2’s The International 10 achieves world record $40 million prize pool

There certainly won’t be any shortage of prize money at DOTA 2’s The International in 2020, with a record-setting amount of over $40 million for the prize pool being accumulated.

The pinnacle of Dota 2 esports is one of the largest celebrations of the popular MOBA, and its record-setting prize pool is a big part of that. Valve usually contributes a baseline of $1.6 million to the pot with the rest coming from player purchases.

25% of all sales for applicable in-game items purchased from the Battle Pass also go into the reward, which has just passed another impressive milestone.

Close to a month after The International 10’s prize pool surpassed that of the 2019 competition’s roughly $33 million mark, it’s now surpassed the ridiculous sum of $40 million.

What’s even more impressive is how quickly fans and players managed to build up to such a staggering dollar amount. In 2019, the then-record breaking sum of $34.3 million was reached in about 110 days before the event began.

The International 10’s prize pool got to that record-breaking number in only 93 days, and reached the $40 million mark roughly a month later just as the Battle Pass ended.

• Read More: Dota 2 player Flow passes away after cancer battle

It was clear shortly after the initial launch of the Battle Pass for 2020, that we could very well be in store for another record-breaking year. On the first day of sales, the contribution from battle pass sales reached $6.5 million far above the previous first-day record of $5.8 million.

Biggest Prize Pools in Esports

1. The International 2020 – $40,000,000+
2. The International 2019 – $34,330,069
3. The International 2018 – $25,532,177
4. The International 2016 – $20,770,460.00
5. The International 2015 – $18,429,613.05
6. Fortnite World Cup Finals 2019: Solo – $15,287,500.00

Source: Esports Earnings

As you can tell from the above graph, the $40 million in prize money far exceeds the high point it’s reached in previous years, exponentially higher than even last year’s record-setting spectacle, which was also miles ahead of previous years at basically every step of the way.

• Read More: Dota 2’s The International 10 sets new prize pool record for esports

Obviously, not being able to physically travel to or watch the premier live event for DOTA 2 esports did little to nothing to dampen fan’s enthusiasm, and as a result, we now officially have a new world record for the largest prize pool at an esports event in history.