The International Prize Pools by Year

Data

Note: How The International Became Esports' Richest Tournament

A Prize Pool Unlike Any Other

The International (TI) is the world championship of Dota 2, Valve's free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena game. Since 2011 it has repeatedly set records for the biggest prize pools in esports history, topping out at $40,018,195 in 2021. No other esports event has ever come close to paying out that much at a single tournament.

The table on this page tells the story in two acts: a decade of explosive growth from $1,600,000 in 2011 to the $40 million peak of 2021, followed by a dramatic pullback after Valve changed how the community funds the prize pool.

How the Crowd Funded the Millions

TI's prize pool is famous because most of it comes from players, not sponsors. Valve sells an in-game Battle Pass (originally called the Compendium) before each International, and a share of every purchase goes into the tournament prize pool, with 25 percent being the often-cited figure. The more the community spends on cosmetics and quests, the bigger the prize pool grows.

• TI1 (2011): $1,600,000, funded directly by Valve
• TI4 (2014): $10,923,977
• TI6 (2016): $20,770,460
• TI8 (2018): $25,532,177
• TI9 (2019): $34,330,068
• TI10 (2021): $40,018,195, the all-time peak

The Golden Era and the Pullback

Between 2016 and 2022 every International broke the $18 million mark. Then the model changed. The 2023 event dropped to $3,143,063, and the 2024 and 2025 editions stayed near $2.6 to $2.9 million. The 2025 pool of $2,881,791 is roughly 7 percent of the 2021 peak, a sign that Valve deliberately scaled back crowdfunding rather than a sign of a shrinking game.

Even with smaller pools, TI remains one of the most watched esports events on the planet, and the Aegis of Champions remains the sport's most prestigious trophy.

Dynasties of The International

Winning TI once is a career-defining achievement; winning it twice is dynastic. Three organizations have managed it:

• OG won back to back in 2018 and 2019, the only team to win twice in a row
• Team Spirit won in 2021 at the record-setting event and again in 2023
• Team Liquid won in 2017 and repeated in 2024
• Natus Vincere won the very first International in 2011
• Team Falcons took the trophy in 2025

Fun Facts

• The 2011 International was held at Gamescom in Cologne with a $1.6 million prize pool, an unheard-of number for esports at the time.
• The $40,018,195 pool of 2021 remains the largest single-event prize pool in esports history.
• OG pocketed more than $15 million for winning TI9, the largest first prize ever awarded in esports.
• The International was not held in 2020; the COVID-19 pandemic pushed TI10 to October 2021.
• Dota 2 is run almost entirely by Valve and its community rather than by a professional league.
• Team Spirit became the first CIS (post-Soviet region) team to win the tournament, doing so at TI10 in 2021.
• TI always uses a round-robin group stage followed by a double-elimination main event, with the grand final played live on stage before tens of thousands of fans.