For 11 straight years, Dota 2’s The International has managed to amass an impressive, ever-growing prize purse. This is not by chance. Even though Valve did support the first few editions with a lot of out-of-pocket cash, it decided to create a sustainable model that would not make the prize pool hostage of financial results.
Dota 2, Valve thought, deserved to be a self-sustained ecosystem. Not because Valve couldn’t have mustered the money, but rather because fans deserve a model that will ensure their favorite pastime thrives and remains vibrant. If you look at it, though, Valve is indeed bleeding money into Dota. Because of the game’s popularity, though, ancillary activities such as Dota 2 betting have thrived.
After all, any new content you buy, a part of it will be directed at the prize pool instead of the company’s pockets. This unique funding model has not been adopted by many other companies, even though Valve is certainly not the biggest and most lucrative one out there so far as game developers go.
Original content has been key in ensuring Dota 2’s The International legacy and creating salivating prize purses. There are several pillars of this success.
Make Fans Involved
The first thing that Valve did was to make it very clear from almost the start that any money spent on Dota 2 – a game that is free to play and would never charge you for playing it – would be directly contributing to the prize pool. The bigger the prize money, the more people are trying to win it, and as a result – the better games we get.
You don’t have to be a hardcore fan, either. There is no need for you to follow all the games and try to figure out the seeds or which the best teams are. Instead, you can kick back once a year and watch The International to your heart’s content.
Fans do feel involved, though, and they have the actual power to make a difference in what is on the line.
Fantastic Content
Fan passion is not all that drives the prize pool forward. If it hadn’t been for Valve’s unique approach to creating excellent Dota 2 content, we would not have witnessed such exponential growth. Valve has known that they need to constantly engage people, deliver on more great content, and ultimately make it possible for everyone to enjoy what’s available a la carte.
The company has decided to invest more in content creation, allocate a bigger part of the sales into The International, and conduct constant marketing initiatives to communicate this knowledge to fans. Whether you are buying a small upgrade or your favorite skin, you are always getting something out of it.
It’s not just that you are trying to contribute more to the final prize pool (which evidently is a consideration).
Constantly Evolving Competitive Scene
You have the big esports powerhouses out there, and that is a fact. However, there are many talented and promising teams that are vying to secure a win, and they surely do. Want to double-check? Just think of Team Spirit, who weren’t favorites (not even close) for the last edition of the event but ended up sweeping it anyway.
In fact, there has been no one back-to-back winner (except for Team OG) over the years, which goes to show how competitive this event is and how vibrant the competitive ecosystem is. This alone makes fans more passionate and makes them involved in the ecosystem. Dota 2 is thriving, and Valve has a lot of the credit to claim.
I'm a published author and proud US Army veteran who happens to be a gamer, so I decided to combine the two and love every minute of it! Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments and I'll be sure to get back to you.
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