Valve Announces “The International” Dota 2 Championship

Valve has announced The International, a first ever tournament for the studio’s new game, Dota 2. It will be the first time that the game has been shown in public, and will take place from August 17-21 at the Gamescom exhibition in Cologne, Germany.

The International will feature the 16 best Dota teams in the world, competing in the Dota 2 Championships through a group stage, double elimination playoff format over the course of the Gamescom trade show.

The tournament will be broadcast live on the web in four languages (Russian, German, English and Chinese) for free, and the winning team will receive a cool million in cash. Not prizes, but actual cash money. To my knowledge, it will be the first time any such pro-gaming event has offered that much in money.

"The International is the first public Dota 2 event and will give the tens of millions of gamers playing Dota around the world their first look at the new game," said Gabe Newell. "I have had the good fortune to watch the competitors as they prepare for the tournament, and the level of play is extraordinary."

Valve is clearly betting big on their new game, which has a significant existing fan base in Dota, with development and monetary investment involved. It will be interesting to see how the game fares against Heroes of Newerth and League of Legends, which are also like Dota.

Dota 2 will be available for both the PC and the Mac later this year, and is expected to contain an item shop similar to Valve’s other title, Team Fortress 2. I expect hats.