The International, which has the largest prize pools in esports, is held on Dota 2 every year. Through the battle pass, fans may annually crowdfund the most renowned event in the Dota 2 calendar, with the victor taking home approximately half of it.

Teams who don’t finish in the top four in the competition typically disband or change their rosters, which lowers the overall stability in the competitive scene for the game due to the tournament’s top-heavy prize pool distribution structure. The rest of the year is often occupied by Majors with subpar prize pools in comparison to TI.

Fans and professionals have been formulating ideas for years about how Valve might repurpose the financing for TI and utilize it to increase player interest in Majors. Team Spirit’s Mira provided one of the most recent viewpoints on the subject during an interview with Escorenews.

Splitting the prize fund for TI would be a huge improvement, Mira added. “Playing in a major tournament every two to three months would be more exciting, and every team would be more motivated to compete throughout the year.

Many other players agreed with the TI10 champion when he said that the present situation of the scene is one of “fighting for a piece of the bread.”

In a 2021 interview with Monster Energy, recently retired Dota 2 star MATUMBAMAN revealed his wish to attend the old Valve-sponsored Majors. The 2016-2017 Majors had $3 million prize pools, in contrast to the Minors’ current low reward pools. This system provided fans with one of the most intense Dota 2 seasons ever, however it was subsequently abandoned in favor of the DPC and outside Majors.

On OG’s Monkey Business Show, when the TI5 winner complained that the latest TI prize pools had been “too high,” Evil Geniuses’ illustrious captain ppd also offered his opinion.

Even though a $40 million prize pool seems like an incredible bargain, it can become meaningless when the bulk of competitors are vying for the merest scraps. Each TI only allows less than 100 players to compete, which is a very small portion of the whole competitive scene.

Tier two and even tier one Dota players find it nearly hard to make ends meet due to the careless use of the battle pass crowdfunding since one mistake during the regular season might result in missing out on a reward.