The majors are over, and Valve is now gearing up for its crowning jewel: The International.
The International is somewhat unique because its prize pool is crowd-funded by players. Valve put $1.5m into the prize pool and then sell in-game items and put 25% of the monetary value of any purchase made and pour it into the prize pool.
Last year, this prize pool reached $20m and the winners Wings Gaming took home a little over $9m. This year, it seems like it could be even larger.
According to work done by Esports Insider, The International 7 is trending 12.55% higher than the prize pool at the same time last year, and after just 86 hours the prize pool for The International 7 was at $6,882,291.
If it continues to accumulate in the same way, by the time the International kicks off in August, there could be a prize pool over $25m.
Numbers have been taken fromDota2.Prizetrac.kr, and you can click through to see a live comparison of 2015, 2016 and 2017 prize pools.