Valve recently announced that third-party organizers will be able to host Dota 2 majors in the upcoming season. This is a big change for the game, and there will be a total of 11 $1 million majors and 11 $300,000 minors.
The new tournament system comes two years after Valve introduced two annual majors with $3 million prize pools. These majors were designed to complement the game’s flagship tournament, The International, following a similar pattern established by Valve’s other major esports title, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
In addition to the increased number of tournaments, a new feature called Qualifying Points will be introduced. These points will be awarded at each major and minor and will determine which teams receive invitations to The International 8.
The first event after The International 7 is a minor hosted by StarLadder. Although the location has not been announced, it is likely to take place in the CIS region. The event will run from Oct. 11 to Oct. 15 and will have a $300,000 prize pool.
Other notable tournament organizers on the schedule include DreamHack, PGL, and Beyond the Summit. Beyond the Summit’s involvement is particularly interesting as they have previously organized smaller in-house LAN tournaments. Perfect World, a Chinese tournament organizer, will also host two majors and one minor, marking their return to producing Valve-sanctioned events after their poor performance with the Shanghai Major in March 2016.
With a total of $14 million in prize money across these 22 events, and the potential for The International’s prize pool to be even higher than before, Dota 2 esports is set to be even more exciting in 2018.