Esports’ most lucrative tournament will award an even larger purse to the team that wins it this year compared to last year.

The official distribution figures for the prize pool of The International 10 (TI10) is now out, as announced by Dota 2 social media manager Wykrhm “Wyk” Reddy. The details of the split came just a bit after the update on the TI10 compendium.

The TI10 prize pool amounts to $40,018,195, with 45.5 percent going to the eventual winners. This percentage in turn amounts to a staggering $18,208,300 — which is around $2.6 million more than the previous first place prize that OG won at TI9.

1st place Prize of the last five TIs

  • The International 10 – $18.2 million for first place
  • The International 9 – $15.6 million for first place
  • The International 8 – $11.2 million for first place
  • The International 7 – $10.8 million for first place
  • The International 6 – $9.1 million for first place

Something for Everyone

Going down the rest of the order, the proportions remain the same as they were at TI9. Second place gets 13 percent; a huge step down from the grand prize, but one that illustrates just how much is really on the line in the grand finals. Third and fourth place meanwhile receive 9 percent and 6 percent respectively.

Distribution of prize money for TI10:

  • 1st place – 45.5% – ($18.2 million)
  • 2nd place – 13% – ($5.2 million)
  • 3rd place – 9% – ($3.6 million)
  • 4th place – 6% – ($2.4 million)
  • 5th-6th place – 3.5% – ($1.4 million)
  • 7th-8th place – 2.5% – ($1 million)
  • 9th – 12th place – 2% – ($800,400)
  • 13th – 16th place – 1.5% – ($600,300)
  • 17th-18th place – 0.25% – ($100,000)

Getting into the top eight awards teams with at least 2.5 percent of the pot, amounting to $1,000,500. Some perspective: that’s $500 more than what Natus Vincere earned for winning the very first International. So if you make it this far, you’re in for a huge payday even if you don’t win the Aegis of Champions. Getting past 7th/8th place earns you another $400,100 on top of that.

The bottom eight get a lot less in comparison, but anyone that places above 17th and 18th will win a much larger amount of money than what they give out for winning the DPC Majors. That means that teams in the lower bracket only have to win a single best of 3 match to earn $600,300. No pressure on those teams, right? At any rate, this increase in the overall size of the TI10 prize pool should produce some very exciting matches going forward.

Related Reading

The International kicks off in Bucharest, Romania on October 7th, beginning with the preliminary group stage. The main event takes place between October 12th to October 17th at the Arena Națională in Bucharest.

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Patrick Bonifacio -

Patrick Bonifacio

| Twitter: @EthanKairos_

Patrick has been around in the esports industry since 2013, having started off covering both StarCraft II and Dota 2. He still plays the latter to this day, with 15 years of experience and counting. In his spare time, he plays as a lovely catgirl in Final Fantasy XIV.