The International, which is Valve’s worldwide Defense of the Ancients 2 tournament, now has a prize pool of over $2.8M, thanks to fan purchases of the Interactive Compendium.
The Interactive Compendium is a virtual guide that will allow owners to win special items, predict winners, and compete with friends as The International rages on. A percentage of all purchases of the Compendium goes towards fattening the prize pool.
The final goal of Compendium sales is $3.2M, which will allow users to vote for the next hero to be shipped in DOTA2. Previous stretch goals that were unlocked included 125% limited edition Battle Bonus, new Smeevil Courier stages, a Custom International HUD skin, and six new taunt animations.
As it is, the grand prize will award the first place team $1.4M, while the second and third place teams will get $619K and $281K respectively. In total, 8 teams will get monetary prizes.
The preliminaries are already underway, while The International itself starts on the 7th August in Seattle, WA.