As of today, Valve has managed to raise over $15 million USD from all the compendiums, points and caches that have been sold from the beginning of May until now. Having only contributed $1.5 million to the prizepool; Valve has provided the means for the fans to successfully raise an extra $13.5 million. With each tier of money raised, Valve promised to some incentives through the many stretch goals they had promised including; the Immortal sets I, II and III, a set of emoticons, the Bristleback announcer pack, new weather effects, a different textured map and so much more that can be seen here.
This time; with the final stretch goal met, Valve has promised a new longform comic based on the brand new Immortal item for Axe. Now, quite clearly, the speed in which the goals were met; and even achieved were staggering and unexpected especially to Valve. As such, a lot of goals have yet to be provided with the Immortal III set still on its way and the new map textures still being polished. That said, there has been teased links for a lot of these and it’s only a matter of time when they come out.
The International 5 has smashed it’s predecessor’s prize pool amount by more than a whopping $4 million USD. As the date of the tournament draws closer next month; there’s even more of a chance to increase the world record for the highest eSport prizepool.
It’s a testament to the amount of love that the community has for Dota 2 and its silly ‘hats’ and cosmetics that contribute to the biggest annual Dota 2 event. And it’s especially apparent with Valve when they painstakingly pushes out waves and waves of daily fixes while tinkering to provide these incredible stretch goals. With Reborn and the rumored ‘Abyssal Lord’ making an appearance, Valve has been at it behind the scene and for that we’re always going to be grateful. The next month is going to be incredibly exciting and we can’t wait to see what’s in store!