The Dota 2 Battlepass only contributed 6% to The International 11 (TI11). In a tweet, last January 16, 2023, Team Secret highlighted the website stratz.com. The tweet stated that the total sales of the 2022 battle pass were $293,024,922.
Other info in their graphic was China being the country with the most money spent at $26,092,463. The highest battle pass level held by an account was 120,300. Even more, the total number of buyers worldwide was 6,704,558 users.
However, the prize pool for TI11 was $18,930,775, or 6% of the total sales of the battle pass.
The battle pass featured exclusive cosmetics for heroes such as Faceless Void, Razor, Phantom Assassin, and Crystal Maiden. It continued with its traditional release of immortal-rarity cosmetics, as well as the cavern crawl that enticed players to play different heroes to unlock battle pass levels. People who play the game were quick to point out Valve’s decision to split the battle pass into two parts.
Why Did Valve Split the Dota 2 Battlepass?
The first part of the battle pass spanned from September 1st to November 2nd. Users were quick to discover that Immortal Treasure 3 was not part of the battle pass. Players did not expect this, and it caused some negative feedback.
The other one was that there were a lot of rewards that were labeled “coming soon,” hinting at their release during the second part of the battle pass. Due to this, revenue during the first half was slow and didn’t pace with the previous year’s battle pass. This caused the prize pool to be lower by more than half of the previous prize pool of $40,018,195.
In defense of this, TI11 only had over 61 days to pull up the prize, compared to TI10’s 123 days. Users were quick to rebut that the significant cut in the days does not excuse the quality of the battle pass. For many, the battle pass seemed incomplete and did not match the hype of the incoming tournament. Players would learn much later that the bulk of the content would be during the second half of the battle pass, with the arrival of Diretide.
What is in the 2nd Half?
The second half of the battle pass was from November 3rd to January 12th. It was during this half that sales were quick to rise as the collector’s cache was released. Valve decided that for this year, they would release two caches, and have both ends at the same time.
It was this that caused sales to go up, not discounting Faceless Void’s arcana. The historical selling point of the battle pass is the exclusivity of most cosmetics inside it. By branding cosmetics as exclusives, Valve created a market for limited edition items that a player cannot get anywhere else.
To compare, the first half was released with Faceless Void’s arcana, Phantom Assassin’s Persona, and prestige set for Primal Beast. It also featured the first cavern crawl, and returning features like rank double down and visual effects for items.
It is important to note that Faceless Void’s arcana, the hero cosmetic, needed the most battlepass levels. Most players tend to stop at battle pass level 495 due to this. They’re more content with not getting the Immortals in the immortal treasures.
The second half of the battle pass released the Crystal Maiden Persona and Razor’s arcana. It also released the second batch of immortals and the second cavern crawl. On top of this, it also released the two editions of the Collector’s Cache towards the end, after a community vote. It also released Diretide, an event that allowed players to complete weekly challenges at a quicker pace or to unwind from a normal dota game.
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