Collectors of Dota 2's virtual e-sports bible, The Compendium, have boosted the prize pool for the upcoming International tournament by an extra $1 million. That's not quite as much as Valve themselves have contributed - with them supplying the base $1.6 million that fans have built upon with their Compendium purchases. But then, most International fans don't have Steam's money hose continuously flooding their building.
As a result of Compendium sales - $2.50 of each going directly to the International prize pool - owners have unlocked the penultimate $2.6 million stretch goal, guaranteeing them a new, as yet unrevealed, immortal item. Previous stretch goals have secured new UI skins, taunts, and a chance to vote on an 8 player solo championship, to be held during the tournament. The final stretch goal will be unlocked when the combined total prize pool hits $3.2 million, at which point fans will be able to vote on the next hero. This is also known as: the Techies poll.
There are still a couple of weeks left for that total to be raised. The International starts on August 7th.
The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.
