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Valorant Champions’ Prize Pool Has Surpassed The International 11’s

Who said that only Valve Corporation knows how to raise tens of millions of dollars for its Dota 2... Radu M. | 13. November 2022

Who said that only Valve Corporation knows how to raise tens of millions of dollars for its Dota 2 world championships?

Riot Games, which now rivals Gabe Newell’s company not just in the MOBA genre but in the FPS genre as well, has managed to surpass this year’s TI prize pool for Valorant’s world championship, according to reports.

Valorant Champions

Valorant Champions is Valorant’s most important tournament of each season. It brings together 16 exceptional teams and gives them the opportunity to compete for a substantial prize pool.

By default, the tournament offers $1 million in prize money, just as The International offers $1.6 million. But in 2022, the teams were also offered 50% of the net proceeds from the Champions 2022 Skin Collection.

According to reports, this collection sold very well and as a result, the Valorant Champions participants made a lot of money just because they played in the tournament.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of This Method

The method of raising money from the community to fund a world championship has been around for 10 years. Valve used it first in Dota 2 and the results were spectacular. Within several years, the prize pool of The International had grown by more than 1000%.

The record was established in 2021. That year, the prize pool of The International reached $40 million, an amount that won’t be repeated any time soon. Esports needs to grow significantly before such prizes can be awarded regularly.

The big advantage of what we might call the Battle Pass method or the Skin Collection method is that you can raise a lot of money by asking a lot of people to make a small contribution. And then your esport has the power to attract a lot of young talent thanks to the prizes offered at the world championship.

The disadvantage is this: if you offer too much at one event, that event becomes the sole focus of the entire season. Everything else looks irrelevant by comparison. And if you also neglect all the other tournaments to the point where there’s no money to be made outside of that event, your community can start to turn on you.

This is the exact scenario that we’re seeing right now in Dota 2. Numerous players have complained about it and unless Valve does something to make professional Dota 2 more viable from a financial standpoint, everyone except for the top 30 teams will eventually stop pursuing a professional career in this esport.

Header: Riot Games