You could say that the biggest Dota 2 event of the year has lost a lot of steam.
The International 2024 has come and gone and while it was an objectively spectacular event, it didn’t feel all that spectacular and that concerns me.
From a casual glance, this year’s International doesn’t look all that different from its previous iterations. Aside from a slight change in the tournament format and the reintroduction of the direct invite process, it went as well as any of the previous Internationals. There was a new hero reveal and it even had a great conclusion with Team Liquid beating their second place curse.
And yet, there was something off about the event this year. I can’t say that it was a lack of hype because the audience in the Copenhagen Royal Arena were certainly enjoying themselves. But for me, I wasn’t all that excited for The International 2024. And I’m worried that this might be the norm moving forward.
Just Another Event
I feel this way is because it felt like there was a lack of awareness about the event. Unless you were already following Dota 2 news, you might not have known that The International was taking place. And I know that this is anecdotal but even my friends who follow numerous esports weren’t aware that The International was happening until I mentioned it.
Of course, developers Valve have never really been one to actively promote their games or their events. They believe in the power of word-of-mouth and letting the product speak for itself but that can also backfire. You can’t be one of the biggest events in esports if the only people aware of it are your followers. And even then, when you somehow didn’t have a Liquipedia page days before your tournament starts, it paints a rather negative picture of an otherwise awesome event.
Now, I’m not saying that The International 2024 had low viewership. In fact, it peaked at 1.5 million viewers which is more than last years 1.4 million. Yet, it had less average viewers than last year by about 100k. It’s a trend that’s been steadily going downwards for Dota 2 and my concern is that The International has now lost its sparkle and has become just another esports tournament.
Losing the Spotlight
So what’s causing The International to lose its prestige?
One factor could be that The International is no longer holding record breaking prize pools like before. This is due to Valve cutting back on the crowdfunding aspect of the event. This year’s prize pool amounted to 2.6 million USD, the second lowest amount in The International’s history and the lowest since the introduction of crowdfunding.
Granted, that’s still a sizable amount, but when you consider that it was only a few years ago that it was at 40 million, it’s a massive drop off. And of course, it’s unreasonable to expect that number to infinitely increase but without it, we now have to ask: what is it that makes The International stand out?
Valve canceled the Dota Pro Circuit last year to make way for more third-party tournaments. That has largely been successful but looking back, how’s The International any different from these other tournaments? Is it just because it’s the one tournament in the year that Valve oversees? Third-party tournaments like ESL One and DreamLeague can deliver similar levels of hype so what does Valve have to offer?
Ultimately, this year’s International didn’t feel as prestigious as it used to. It’s not fading into obscurity — that’s downright impossible due to the legacy it holds. But still, it feels lackluster now. It no longer feels like the Dota 2 event of the year.
Maybe the next International will change that but we’ll have to wait and see what Valve plans to do.
Banner photo from Dota 2 The International.