Home / Records / Tech & Games
The International 2021
Biggest esports prize pool, Dota 2
The International 10 for Dota 2 had a prize pool of over $40 million, with the winners, Team Spirit, taking about $18.2 million.
The International is the yearly championship of Dota 2, run by the game's developer, Valve. Its prize pool began with a base amount from Valve and then grew through sales of an in-game item pass, with a share of each purchase added to the pool. This crowd-funded approach is why the pool climbed far beyond what most tournaments offer.
The tenth edition was held in Bucharest, Romania, in October 2021. Team Spirit, a team from the Commonwealth of Independent States region, beat PSG.LGD in the final and collected the first prize, which was about $18.2 million. Pools above $40 million had never been seen in esports before, and the figure is still the largest on record.
Later editions did not match it. Prize pool is not the same as the money that individual players take home, since it is divided among many teams and then among players and their organisations. Team Spirit had reached the main event through a qualifying route, and their win was seen as an upset, since few observers had them as favourites before the tournament began. Winners' shares were split among the five players and their organisation.