The prize pool of The International 2020 (TI10) now holds the all-time record for the biggest prize pool for a single esports tournament after it surpassed the previous record set by TI9 at US$34.3 million.
TI10’s prize pool breached last year’s record of US$34,330,068 million after just 92 days and ten hours of crowdfunding, according to the Dota 2 prize pool tracker. For comparison, it took 110 days for TI9’s prize pool to set the previous esports prize pool record.
As with previous iterations of TI, the prize pool of TI10 started with a base pot of US$1.6 million provided by Dota 2 developer Valve Corporation. The Dota 2 community then contributed to the prize pool by purchasing the TI10 Battle Pass and other related content, with 25% of the money from each purchase going to the tournament’s prize pool.
TI10 also has the fastest-growing prize pool compared to previous iterations of the tournament, amassing US$10 million after just two days of crowdfunding en route to surpassing last year’s total pot after 90 days.
For comparison, TI9 had US$32.1 million while both TI8 and TI7 hovered at around US$23.7 million at the same point of their respective crowdfunding periods.
While Valve has not yet released any information on when the crowdfunding period for TI10 is going to end, it is expected that its duration will be extended due to the ongoing COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
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The astonishing speed by which TI10’s prize pool has grown can largely be attributed to its battle pass being the biggest one yet to be released by Valve. This year’s battle pass notably came with three new Arcanas, two Hero Personas, and a new Roguelike game mode called Aghanim’s Labyrinth.
While TI10 now holds the record for the biggest prize pool in all of esports, the tournament itself won’t be happening any time soon after Valve announced in May that it has been delayed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.
With the Dota 2 community eagerly awaiting news on when TI10 and the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) is set to return, Valve stated that they cannot commit to any return dates yet due to the unpredictability of the pandemic.
“In following how the pandemic has been developing globally, the recent increase in the unpredictability of COVID-19 means we can’t yet commit to new dates for TI10 and the DPC. We share your eagerness in returning to these events, and will announce updates as soon as we can,” Valve said in a tweet on the official Dota 2 Twitter account.
TI10 was originally scheduled to be held from August 18-23 in Stockholm, Sweden.
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