Renowned analyst raises concerns about The International 2025

Duncan “Thorin” Shields expressed concern about the size of The International 2025 prize pool, noting the annual decrease in the amount.

The esports historian and analyst shared his opinion on X.

“A sad decline for the king of esports tournaments.”

The starting prize pool for The International 2025 was $1.6 million. This is an absolute anti-record for the tournament series, although the final prize pool may increase due to sales from the gaming event preceding the championship. It is worth noting that the record-breaking tournament of the series was The International 2021, where teams played for more than $40 million, and Team Spirit, the winners of the grand final, received more than $18.2 million.

As a reminder, Valve previously added a tab for The International 2025 to the tournaments section of the official Dota 2 game client.