The ONE Esports Singapore Major has $500,000 to offer. But the prize pool distribution means some teams can play twenty-seven games through the tournament but go home without a single dollar.
After a long break, the Dota Pro Circuit resumed in 2021. With an online regular-season ending with the first LAN Major, Season 1 of the DPC looks extremely competitive. However, many community figures have been extremely vocal about the poor prize pool distribution at the Major.
What are the issues with the Dota 2 Major prize pool distribution?
The ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021 has a $500,000 prize pool. There are sixteen teams from six regions across the world participating in the first Major of 2021.
Despite having a strong performance some teams were faced with the prospect of going back with $0 for their efforts. Team Liquid qualified for the Singapore Major to the Wild Card stage. A top-three finish in the wild card stage helped the team qualify to the group stage. Aydin "iNSaNiA" Sarkohi and co. finished fifth and moved to the lower bracket of the playoffs. A single series loss in the lower bracket means Team Liquid is eliminated with no earnings from the Major.
The conversation started after South America’s Thunder Predator’s dominant group stage performance. Despite finishing the group stage in the first place with a 12-2 score, Thunder Predator had to go up against Team Secret in the playoffs. If Thunder Predator would lose two series (one in the upper bracket and one in the lower bracket), the team would go home without earning anything from the Major.
Team Liquid exits Major with zero prize money after twenty-six games
Fortunately for the South American players, they defeated Team Aster in the lower bracket. But Team Liquid lost to Vici Gaming in the lower bracket. After playing twenty-six games on LAN, traveling to another continent during COVID, Team Liquid earned nothing for its performance at the Major.
It is important to note that teams had to pay their travel expenses to Singapore. A team can play twenty-seven games in the entire tournament and still go home with $0 to its name.
Dota 2 Major prize pool distribution
Here is the complete prize pool distribution for the ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021.
- 1st place: $200,000 and 500 DPC points.
- 2nd place: $100,000 and 450 DPC points.
- 3rd place: $75,000 and 400 DPC points.
- 4th place: $50,000 and 350 DPC points.
- 5-6th place: $25,000 and 300 DPC points.
- 7-8th place: $12,5000 and 200 DPC points.
- 9-16th place: $0 and no DPC points.
Teams that qualified to the Major earned prize money from the Dota Pro Circuit regular season. However, since teams have to pay the travel expenses, there have been growing calls for a reassessment of the distribution of the Major prize money.
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