One day before phase two of The International 2023 ends, we finally know how teams will be paid out at the end of the event. On top of this news coming while Dota 2’s biggest tournament is already in full swing, it also continues to highlight how much the TI12 Compendium is failing the pro scene.
According to Liquipedia, TI12 will use a slightly different distribution percentage compared to previous years and pay out every team attending this year’s event—including an increased drop for everyone eliminated in a tie for last place. First place will still take home the lion’s share with 45 percent of the total prize pool, followed by 12 percent for second place and eight percent for third.
Unfortunately, while 20 of the teams have been battling it out for the Aegis of Champions in Seattle, the TI12 prize pool continues to flatline.
It took the TI12 prize pool over 17 days to crack the $3 million mark, putting it over $5 million behind where TI5 was in a similar timeframe. If this pace keeps up, this year’s event is likely to end behind TI4’s $10,923,977 final prize pool, which would be the first time a TI has not surpassed $10 million in over a decade.
If the Compendium ended today and TI12 had a prize pool of $3,019,026, first place would take home a combined $1,358,702. For reference, Tundra Esports won $8,518,822 at TI11 last year and Newbee took home $5,025,029 all the way back at TI4.
TI10 still holds the record for the largest overall esports prize pool at $40,018,400 and, even though TI11 snapped a decade-long streak of Dota’s biggest stage getting a bigger prize pool every year, it still ended at just under $19 million. So what we can take away from this sharp decline is that the community’s disappointment in the Compendium’s content offerings continues to reflect on sales and its subsequent prize pool distribution.
The TI12 Compendium got a bit of love for adding more actual activities to enjoy during and after the actual tournament matches. However, the lack of cosmetics or other content to push players to either grind or purchase battle pass levels has severely decreased the likelihood for most people to go beyond buying the base $7 bundle—if they grab it at all.
This drop in prize pool has not impacted the importance of TI for most players attending the event, but it could slowly shift some narratives in the pro scene as Valve moves away from a dedicated Dota Pro Circuit next season. For example, Riyadh Masters might become even more important to the competitive scene since it has the ESL Pro Tour feeding into it and just posted a $15 million prize pool of its own.
We will have to wait and see what the TI12 prize pool looks like once the event ends on Oct. 29 before fully judging the Compendium’s impact, but it doesn’t look like it will see increased growth unless Valve adds some additional content prior to then.
