The International (Dota 2) Prize Pool by Year

About This Dataset

This chart tracks the total prize pool of Valve's annual Dota 2 world championship, The International, in US dollars by year. Prize pools were largely crowdfunded through in-game Battle Pass sales.

✨ AI Insight

The International's prize pool grew steadily through the late 2010s, peaking at just over 40 million dollars in 2021, at the time the largest purse in esports history. That growth was driven by crowdfunding, as players funded the pool through in-game purchases. After 2021 the trend reversed sharply: the 2022 edition fell to 18.9 million, and from 2023 onward Valve changed its funding model, collapsing prize pools to around 2.6 to 3.1 million. The 2019 to 2021 peak years stand out dramatically against both the earlier ramp and the later decline, making this one of the clearest rise-and-fall patterns in competitive gaming economics.

Source: Wikipedia (The International, Dota 2)

Key Findings

Auto-computed highlights from this dataset

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2021 leads with 40 in All Time.

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Average value in All Time: 19 · median: 21.

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Gap in All Time: 2021 is 15.4× larger than 2024.