Maelstorm called Valve’s decision to give players $40 million in prize money a mistake

Vladimir "Maelstorm" Kuzminov believes that Valve made a mistake when they made the prize pool for The International 2021 $40 million, which ultimately harmed the championship.

The Dota 2 commentator published this statement on his Telegram channel.

"In my understanding, no tournament should be such that money is played for, after which you can "not work". This is just one tournament, the most important of the year, but one. Now two million is not a mistake. Then the mistake was 40 million"

Maelstorm responded to the community's complaints that huge sums used to be played for at The International, and now only two million. In his opinion, $40 million had a negative impact on the Dota 2 World Championship at the time. Therefore, he believes it is right that the prize money has become much smaller, because now players are fighting for prestige, and not just for money.

Recall that Team Spirit previously told what the prize pool for The International 2025 will be.