posted by Vekus,
WE DID IT! This battle cry probably echoed through the Valve offices, joinDOTA studios, 2GD's bedroom and apartments all over the world. The International 2014 has exceeded a total of $10 million for the overall prize pool and is undoubtedly the biggest prize money ever seen in Esports. But how does it compare to other things? Check it out!
Click to enlarge!


Okay, we spoiled it in the header already, but you can't pretend as if you wouldn't have known already. The International 2014 tops every eSports tournament so far by an astronomic amount. The second place is taken by last year's International, which shouldn't be a surprise either, considering the large amounts of money the community has been pumping into the scene.

Shockingly enough, none of the other 'big' eSports titles are able to keep up with the pace set by Dota 2. Even League of Legends, the game with a larger player base and popularity isn't able to pose a real threat. One of the other things to notice is a rather minor increase of the overall prize pool from LoL's World Championship S2 to the World Championship S3. Valve has once more shown the power of community funding.

Last year's International was the mantle holder of the eSports competitions, but this time around the community has topped itself. With $10 million and counting, we managed to more than triple last year's prize pool year and set a bar that will stand at least until TI5. With that much money on the line, Dota 2 secured its future growth, be it with new players switching from other games or sponsors that will see the game as a worthy investment. But have we made it clear yet, how massive this year is?

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(This graph was calculated assuming a 50% share for the first place, divided by 5 players)



ESports is often a risky career with low paychecks and a fierce competition. But if you are among the best, you can actually make quite a bit of money. Names such as kr Jaedong and kr MC, widely known in the Starcraft scene, are considered the best among the best, and rich just from playing computer games. Also our very own ua Danil 'Dendi' Ishutin made quite a bit of money with his profession, winning one and placing second in two Internationals. The last in the list is us Fatal1ty, a former pro-gamer and now entrepreneur with his own business.

All of these people have two things in common: they have made a tremendous amount of money with computer games, and they all will be outnumbered by the winner of this year's International. You know when they called Dendi the Dota 2 millionaire? Well, guess what: every member of this year's winning team will leave the competition a true millionaire, with $1,000,000 cold hard cash in his pockets.

Additional winnings, salaries and sponsor contracts aside, each member of the winning team of TI4 will literally have made a million out of playing a computer game, more than anyone else has ever before. But how does that compare to the real world?

Click to enlarge!
(This graph was calculated assuming a 50% share of the first place prize money)




Dota 2 is an invincible giant...amongst eSports. Although it fights a good fight, the first place of this year's International still has to bow to the first places of more traditional sports. While it manages to beat Tennis, Indycar Racing, Chess and many more, it gets beaten by Nascar, Horse Racing and Golf, not to mention the titans of the NFL, Soccer and Formula 1.

We fared incredibly well considering how young the eSports scene is and how rapidly it has been growing in the past few years. Prize pools like the premier sports might never be possible, with hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars up for grabs, and one player worth as much as a small city, but eSports shapes itself a niche where it can not only exist, but also offer a valid career path.

Considering the growth of the past few years, it is very likely that we will soon manage to outnumber everything but the premier sports. If we manage to double the prize pool, we are on par with golf already. eSports is growing, slowly but steadily. The times are over when gamers were looked at like people who donĀ“t have a life. Gaming has finally made its way into society.


This article was written by de Markus Fischer, joinDOTA's Senior Writer. Vekus started to follow Dota rather late, as he joined the community in 2012. From then on he tried to get a job in Esports and found it later at joinDOTA. Reallife is mostly spend at university trying to understand physics and running. Avid wearer of Bandanas.Location: Chemnitz, GermanyFollow him on @VekusDota.

This article was written by fi Teemu Ikonen, joinDOTA's Senior Writer. Meliora.Infinitum got absorbed into Dota during a LAN party between TI and TI2, and has been captivated ever since. Spends his spare time outdoors taking photos and writing a book. Believer of alternate universes, no legs strat and Half Life 3. Location: Espoo, FinlandFollow him on @MelioraInf.

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