The International Compendium 2015 Launches in DOTA 2, Previous 24 Hour Money Milestone Quickly Obliterated

It’s been an exciting week for DOTA 2 players, first starting with the 6.84 update that replaced the poorly received 6.82 and 6.83 versions and now the launch of the The International Compendium 2015.

The prize money for each DOTA 2 International is initially seeded with $1.6 million by Valve. Since the third International in 2013, the rest of the prize pool is expanded by Compendium purchases and unexpectedly as a result, those tournaments rank within the highest paying competitive video gaming events of all time. For each Compendium and related tools purchased, 25% of the sale is added to The International 2015 prize pool. Sales of The International Compendium 2015 opened on the 30th of April at 11 PM PST and since then The International 2015 prize pool has exceeded that of The International 2013’s $2.8 million prize pool in around 12 hours. This also beats the amount of time it took for last year’s Compendium 2014 sales to raise the tournament prize pool above that amount, which took around 22 hours. The sold out International 2015 invitational tournament will be held at KeyArena in Seattle from August 3rd through August 8th.

The International Compendium 2015 like its predecessors, is an interactive sort of eBook within the DOTA 2 client that when purchased grants its owner a fairly large amount of in-game cosmetic rewards, gives out achievements, and provides information on the The International 2015 tournament. New this year are two versions of the Compendium are being sold in the DOTA 2 store, the base version for $9.99 and a version leveled to 50 for $26.99. Players can also buy point packs to level up their compendium quicker and gain more in-game rewards.

Many DOTA 2 players have voiced disappointment about this year’s Compendium, largely comparing it to the previous year’s Compendium which promised a few new gameplay features and live events to happen at the tournament. Many players have also voiced opposition to the expansion of pets that follow the player character, a relatively new in-game cosmetic feature. Those players argue that cosmetic pets are an unnecessary distraction in an already intense strategy game.