The International, Dota 2’s biggest annual event, is finally happening.
After being postponed the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Valve Corp., developer of the popular multi-player action RTS game, announced Wednesday that The International is taking place in Stockholm, Sweden in August.
The 10th iteration of the tournament (TI10) will also feature the biggest prize pool in esports history with $40 million, alongside the highly sought Aegis of Champions.
It surpassed the previous record of $34 million, the prize pool being of Valve’s TI9 in 2019.
The humungous prize pool was garnered from last year’s battle pass, an in-game feature that allows players to purchase levels to obtain Arcana-level skins and other pleasing content.
The Aegis of Champions is the most prestigious Dota 2 trophy, as teams around the globe will compete to become the greatest team in the professional scene.
The group stages of the event will take place on August 5 to 8, and the main event on August 10 to 15.
Considered the best ever to play the game, OG, a Europe-based team, won the last two Aegis of Champions after defeating China’s PSG.LGD and fellow European team Nigma in TI8 and TI9, respectively.
OG was the only team to win Dota 2’s biggest event twice, yet.
SUPPORTS CLUBS
In line with the announcement, Valve also introduced Wednesday the Supporters Club, a way for fans to support their favorite teams.
The content players will purchase in the Supporters Club will come from the teams themselves, and will last until The International starts.
Fans of back-to-back champions OG should wait a little more, as they face “an inconvenience regarding the upload of the team’s bundle.”
Filipino team TNC Predator’s bundle will also be uploaded soon, according to their official Twitter account.
The same goes with OB.Neon’s bundle, which is also expected to be released soon.