Valve announced today that the ninth annual Dota 2 International Championships (The International 9) has smashed records? Which records? A lot of esports ones.
First off, this marks the first back-to-back victory for any team in the history of The International. That's right, OG won it all this year just as they did in 2018. I'm sure a lot of fans had that spoiled for them thanks to a random email from Twitch. Good job on that one, Twitch.
Also of note was the record breaking prize pool that hit over $33 million. It's apparently the largest in the history of esports and one of the largest prizes among all sports. Combine this fact with the previous fact that OG has won two years in a row, and it leads to the next record: OG has become one of the highest earning esports teams of all time. The grand prize for this year's event alone found OG receiving over $15.6 million. You'd have to go all the way back to the seventh place before you see the prize earnings drop below $1 million for any team. Last year, OG took home over $11.2 million for placing first.
Valve says that The International now holds four out of the five highest paying esports tournaments of all time. I'm not sure what the fifth tournament is. In fact, looking at Esportsearnings.com, The International actually holds every spot in the top 5, both in the overall category and the team category. Though if I'm a betting man, Valve is probably combining the prize pools for the solo and duo 2019 Fortnite World Cup Finals, which would place it second on the top 5 list at over $30 million.
Dota 2 continues to be a free-to-play game developed by Valve. You can find out more about this year's International at Dota2.com.
