2019 is truly a crazy time to be alive. We live in a world where we can have AI for friends, we have explode-to-wear ponchos, and computer game players can win over a billion pesos in one tournament.
Yes, you read that right. One billion pesos, and counting, might we add.
The tournament in question is The International, a Defense of the Ancients 2 tournament hosted by Valve Corporation, the company that developed that ubiquitous MMORPG. For non-gamer folk, you probably know it as the computer shop fodder called Dota 2.
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As of writing, the tournament’s prize pool—dubbed the Aegis of Champions by The International—is at 20,467,445 US dollars. In pesos, that’s 1,051,821,998 pesos and 55 cents. A little over 24 hours prior, the amount was at $19.5M, which means the pool increased by almost $1M in a day. Am I the only one that started sweating?
At the rate the 2019 prize pool is increasing right now, it has already overtaken last year’s progress by $4M. Oh, and did we mention that the 2018 tournament grossed $25M—one of the highest prize pools in esports history? Yep. We’re looking at a possible top-ranks world record.
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Surprisingly, this isn’t the largest prize pool in history. The International’s tournament comes second to Epic Games’ 2017-2018 Fortnite competition season that amassed a dizzying $100M, which is around P5B. Needless to say, Epic really lives up to its name.
You know what, maybe those computer shop regulars are really up to something. Care to build a Dota 2 pro team, anyone?
Photo by Jilson Tiu
