Currently the 2014 Dota 2 International holds the record for the largest eSports prize in history, and astonishingly enough, it broke the record when it crossed the $5 Million mark.

Dota 2 is an increasingly popular MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game with a large multinational community and professional "eSports" base, suitable for annual tournaments which have been consistently recognized for their incredibly generous prize pools.

Click the following link to see just how much the pool has grown: Link

Valve seeds $1.6 Million USD of the prize pool and offers the Dota 2 community the opportunity to add to the pool by purchasing the "The Compedium," which is a $10 program that features information on the competing teams and ways to evolve the Dota 2 experience. The Compendium allows players and fans to earn rewards by watching matches, collecting player cards, and making tournament predictions. For every Compendium sold, 25% ($2.50) of the sales are added to the prize pool.

The interactive Compendium this year was launched on May 9, 2014 and the Dota 2 community has purchased enough to have boosted the prize pool to over $10,000,000 which is technically five times more than the base prize pool.

The tournament matches will be commentated and available to watch on live streams or within the client of the game. Dota 2 is free to play and download but allows users to earn or purchase only aesthetic changes. This ensures no player is disadvantaged, which highlights one of the game's core properties, balance.

This year the Dota 2 International will be held at KeyArena in Seattle, Washington from July 18-21.