Considering the ridiculously huge crowd-funded reward pool that DotA 2’s The International 2014 tournament has already racked up, it’s not surprising that the company is looking at holding similiar competitions for other popular games.
Speaking to Prodota.ru, Valve’s Erik Johnson said that he doesn’t see why the same model ”couldn’t be applied directly to Counter-Strike”. My CS skills have long since atrophied to the point of uselessness, but the promise of $10,000,000 might just tempt me into a doomed attempt at not being terrible.
“I don’t know if it would be called The International, but the guys working on Counter-Strike made a lot of progress on supporting the professional community around that game,” said Johnson. ”We all work at the same company and share a lot of ideas, and given how successful this tournament has become I don’t see any reason why a lot of the same things couldn’t be applied directly to Counter-Strike”
The Valve representative was quick to clarify that nothing was in the works just yet, but surely it’s a matter of time before Valve’s other heavy-hitters get their own spotlight competitions. Getting the community to provide the prize pool cuts down on your own costs by a considerable amount after all.
The current prize fund for The International 2014, to be held in Seattle from July 18-21, stands at a frankly ludicrous $10,743,798.