Valve has recently released when and where the next DOTA 2 The International (TI11) tournament will take place.
The video game developer, publisher, and digital distribution company named Singapore as the host of this year's DOTA 2 The International Tournament, which will be held in October, per its announcement on the official DOTA 2 Twitter page.
This is the first time the event will be held in Southeast Asia according to a recent report from The Verge.
DOTA 2 The International 2022 Tournament Details
Singapore.
— DOTA 2 (@DOTA2) May 22, 2022
October 2022.
The Aegis of Champions awaits. pic.twitter.com/938wBjqrGE
Not much is known about TI11's particulars and logistics, aside from the tournament's venue being in Singapore's Indoor Stadium and Suntec Arena.
Valve previously teased the event's venue in the days leading to its reveal in several tweets featuring various Singaporean landmarks on DOTA 2's official Twitter page.
It would also follow the conclusion of the 2022 DOTA Pro Circuit, which will enter its third set of regional league competitions for the Summer Tour in Arlington, Texas, from August 4 to 14.
Professional DotA 2 teams such as PSG.LGD, TSM, Gaimin Gladiators, OG, and Thunder Awaken are almost certain to directly qualify for the event through its DPC points, per datDota developer and analyst Ben "Noxville" Steenhuisen.
Although the tournament's grand prize is still unknown, it is expected to be bigger than last year's tournament, based on the tournament's grand prize trend.
DOTA 2 The International (TI) is known for its hefty and generous rewards, the same could happen for this year's tournament too, and interested participants wouldn't have to wait as long as the venue's announcement to know how much the grand prize will be.
In fact, the tournament's 2021 iteration saw the winning team, TSpirit, receive a record prize pool of over $40 million. However, the event's penchant for large prizes didn't start there, according to PCGamesN.
The gaming news publisher mentioned in its article that the tournament's grand winner prize has been increasing since the tournament's third iteration in 2013.
Back then, Valve began fundraising through its tournament-specific "TI battle pass" sales, with a specific percentage of the sales going towards the tournament's total reward fund.
This method of raising funds for the TI tournament saw it achieve one of the top six spots in the largest overall prize pool list for esports tournaments, with each year's prize being larger than the last, per eSports Earnings.
The only exception to this trend was the 2020 event in Stockholm, Sweden, which was canceled due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. TI was supposed to make a return to Sweden again in 2021, but Swedish authorities blocked the event from happening, per a separate report from The Verge.
COVID-19 Precautions and Other Event-Specific Details
Although Valve is not yet clear about its COVID-19 Precautions for the upcoming tournament, Singapore's Ministry of Health might request event-goers and participants to undergo pre-event testing (PET) to know if they are clear from COVID-19 or not, per Singapore Legal Advice.
The PET process only takes around 15 minutes to produce results, so it shouldn't hold up anyone for long periods.
