Dota 2: Former Azure Ray offlaner Chalice complains about TI 2023 prize pool, says 'it really is too little'
Chalice also revealed that he won less from finishing fourth in The International 2023 than when he finished in 13th-16th place at The International 2022.
Former Azure Ray offlaner Yang "Chalice" Shenyi recently expressed his disappointment over the low prize pool of The International (TI) 2023, this year's Dota 2 world championship tournament that was held in October, and said what he won was "too little".
Chalice aired out his grievances in a livestream on the Chinese streaming platform Huya on Monday (11 December). During the stream, Chalice said he already received his winnings from TI 2023 and pointed out that he earned less from this year's world championship tournament compared to last year.
"I have already received my TI 2023 prize money but it really is too little. Top 4 at this TI earned me less than TI 2022’s 13th-16th place prize money that I won with RNG last year," a machine translation of Chalice's statements during the stream read.
Chalice and Azure Ray finished fourth in TI 2023, bowing out in the lower bracket semifinals after getting swept by eventual runners-up Gaimin Gladiators and walking away with US$185,898 in consolation.
In TI 2022, Chalice played with Royal Never Give Up (RNG) and finished in 13th-16th place after losing to Entity in the first round of the lower bracket. RNG earned US$283,931 out of TI 2022's US$18.9 million prize pool.
Chalice went on to say that his cut of the winnings for both TI 2022 and TI 2023 was 16%, even giving the exact amount he won from each tournament.
"I can get 16% of the prize money we won at [TI 2022] and I got US$35,000 for 13th-16th place at TI 2022 in the end. And this year I still got 16% of the prize money but I only received US$20,000 for getting into Top 4 [at TI 2023]," said Chalice.
Not the only player complaining
The former Azure Ray offlaner even said that he was not the only player complaining about the low prize pools of the past two iteratios of TI, namedropping TI 2022 champions Tundra Esports.
"The funny thing is that Tundra were complaining about the low prize money last year but what they got is way more than what Team Spirit got this time around," said Chalice.
TI 2023 had a US$3.3 million prize pool, the lowest since its 2013 edition which had a US$2.8 million pot. Team Spirit, who won their second Aegis of Champions this year, claimed a grand prize of US$1.5 million.
For comparison, Tundra Esports won US$8.5 million for winning TI 2022. The difference becomes all the more glaring when looking at Spirit's first TI championship at TI 2021, where they won a whopping US$18.2 million out of the tournament's US$40 million prize pool.
TI 2023's much lower prize pool compared to previous editions is a consequence of developer Valve Software's decision to move away from the TI Battle Pass system back in June.
Since 2013, TI has been crowdfunded by Dota 2 developer Valve Software and the Dota 2 community. Valve would provide a base prize pool of US$1.6 million while the community pitched in by purchasing either the TI Compendium or TI Battle Pass, with 25% of all Compendium or Battle Pass sales going to the prize pool.
The TI Compendium was used from 2013 to 2015 while the TI Battle Pass was used from 2016 to 2022, with this year's tournament seeing the return of the TI Compendium.
The TI Battle Pass led to the massive growth of TI's prize pools, peaking with TI 2021's US$40 million prize pool before coming down to earth with TI 2022 and TI 2023.
However, the woeful lack of content in the TI 2023 Compendium and the fact that it released just two weeks before the tournament gave players little incentive to purchase it. The result is TI 2023's abysmally low prize pool that now has pro players complaining.
It remains to be seen how next year's TI will look like, especially as the Dota 2 esports scene will be treading new ground following Valve's decision to end the Dota Pro Circuit.
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