The International prize pool for 2025 and its prize pool history (2011-present)

The International was long known for its enormous prize pool amounts, but what is the event’s full history of cash prizes, and why isn’t winning TI worth as much as it used to be?

A lot of money changes hands each year in major esports tournaments, but where the money flows from varies from game to game. In Dota 2, it became tradition that developer and publisher Valve would raise huge sums of money through its annual battle passes, with a portion of that money going directly to pro players. That’s quite a bit different from other prominent esports that see greater involvement from third-party tournament organizers and esports organizations.

The International was central to this, as was evident in its eye-popping, eight-figure prize pools. So where are those prize pools these days, and why is The International so much smaller than it used to be? Here’s a breakdown of the TI prize pool history.

TI prize pool history

The International’s prize pool once grew as large as $40 million in 2021, but has come down significantly since that peak.

The prize pool for The International long made it one of the most intriguing events in esports. The $1 million first-place prize offered in the first two installments is still massive by today’s standards, but after growing for many years, those eye-popping payouts dropped precipitously after a point alongside Dota 2’s player count.

Here is the prize pool for each The International tournament to date:

While the TI 2021 prize pool remains the biggest in esports history, the event is no longer the most lucrative on the esports calendar, or even in Dota 2. Other tournament organizers have begun splashing out enough money to eclipse The International’s prize pool since.

What made The International’s prize pool so large?

The International boasted enormous prize pools thanks to Valve integrating crowdfunding mechanics into the Dota 2 client.

In 2013, Valve introduced the TI Compendium, which offered fans various in-game perks. It also encouraged engagement with the Dota 2 esports scene by giving players the opportunity to make predictions on various elements of the tournament, such as which teams would qualify for the tournament and what the most-picked heroes would be. The reward for correct predictions was an exclusive courier that could be upgraded with more predictions proving right.

Valve

This grew over time to become The International Battle Pass. The TI Battle Pass offered its own progression system and significantly more rewards, including exclusive arcana skins. Many of these rewards were paywalled, with many players willing to pony up the cash required. As Valve offered more and more rewards each year, the prize pool grew rapidly. Every year from 2013 to 2021 saw TI break its previous prize pool record to become anew the most lucrative event in esports history.

That changed almost overnight due to a decision made by Valve.

Why doesn’t The International have big prize pools anymore?

Valve largely dropped its support of Dota 2 esports during the 2022-2023 season, which resulted in The International prize pool shrinking immensely.

In 2022, Valve changed its approach to The International Battle Pass by having the tournament itself begin in the middle of its duration. This saw Valve pocket more of the money that traditionally would have gone to the professional players.

Valve

From there, Valve dropped its support of the pro scene almost entirely. This included the dissolution of the Dota Pro Circuit and the cessation of The International Battle Pass. This saw the TI prize pool drop to some of its lowest totals in its history.

While Valve stated that ending the TI Battle Pass would free its development team up to more evenly roll out a greater number in-game events, that has not proven true. Development of major in-game events actually slowed the battle pass was stopped. The lone exception to that was the long-running Crownfall event, a cavern crawl with an assortment of mini-games. But for most Dota 2 players and fans, it hardly made up for the loss of the TI Battle Pass each year.

What is the TI14 prize pool?

TI14 has been assigned a base prize pool of $1.6 million, with more money being contributed to the total when Dota 2 players purchase in-game team and talent bundles.

The bundles, which are available in-game through the Dota 2 client, are full of original creations made by the respective teams and broadcast talents associated with the annual event. When one of these bundles is purchased, half of the proceeds go to the creator, while the other half goes to Valve.

Valve has further announced that for the TI14 prize pool, a further 30% of the money raised through these bundles would go towards prize winnings at The International 2025. So while this won’t push the TI14 prize pool up close to where it once stood at the event’s peak, it does give fans a chance to contribute to the event.