Valve’s annual Dota 2 championship, The International, will kick off later today. Teams from around the world will compete from August 7-12 for the record-breaking $23 million prize pool–and, you know, bragging rights for being the best at the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) title.
The tournament’s prize pool is raised via sales of The International Battle Pass. Dota 2 players buy the Battle Pass in exchange for access to a multiplayer campaign, in-game items, and other goodies, and Valve puts 25% of the sales towards The International’s prize pool.
A total of 16 teams are competing in The International this week, with Team Liquid and Invictus kicking things off at 10am PT today. They’ll be followed by Evil Geniuses vs. Newbee at 1pm PT. That’s it for the upper bracket; the teams in the lower bracket will compete at 4, 5, 6, and 7pm PT. You can find the full schedule on Dota 2‘s website for the rest of the match times, and Valve has made a bracket to help summarize things.
The prize pool will be split up as follows:
- 16th-13th place: $119,232
- 12th-9th place: $357,696
- 7th and 8th place: $596,159
- 6th and 5th place: $1,073,087
- 4th place: $1,669,246
- 3rd place: $2,503,870
- Runner-up: $3,815,420
- Winner: $10,492,406
Note that those figures will continue to change as The International progresses and more Battle Passes are sold.
