The International, often abbreviated as TI, is an annual tournament organized by Valve. In 2015 Valve increased their number of hosted events, founding the Dota Major Championships which incorporates The International into its structure. The International remains the biggest and most prestigious event on the Major Championship circuit.
The first International was held in Cologne, Germany, during the trade show Gamescom, in order to unveil Dota 2 to worldwide audiences. It drew attention due to its staggering $1.6 million prize pool (with $1 million for the champion). 16 teams were invited to play for the title.
In 2012 The International moved to Seattle, Washington. The prize pool remained at $1.6 million USD. Only 14 teams were invited; two additional slots were awarded to the winners of regional qualifiers.
Since 2013, the Dota 2 community has been able to contribute to the prize pool. The total prize of The International 2013 grew to $2.8 million . In 2014, the prize pool surpassed $10 million. In 2016, it eclipsed $20 million, making The International the biggest esports tournament in terms of prize pool.
Team participation
As of 2017, 57 different teams have appeared in the group stages of The International.
Every year Valve hands out direct invites to certain teams, usually the defending champion and the best performing teams in the months leading up to the tournament.
Although the first International was exclusively invitational, in 2012 Valve implemented the qualifying phase. Since then, the number of qualification spots has increased, and the number of invitations has decreased.
If a team changes its roster during a roster lock period, they are relegated to the open qualifiers, an additional tier of qualifying phase added in 2015 which allows for any team to register and play for the place at the finals.
Invictus Gaming has been invited more than any other team (6 invites total).
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