Valve has just commenced, with the first match setting up and taking place (between teams Na'Vi and Orange) as I type, the third iteration of their giant DOTA 2 tournament: The International 3.
The prize pool, starting at 1.6 million dollars, is increased by $2.50 for each $9.99 tournament Compendum sold. Almost 500,000 were sold by this point yielding a purse of $2.84 million USD; the prize for first place, alone, is currently $1.42 million USD. This continues The International's trend of being among the most lucrative video game tournaments, almost doubling Blizzard's 2013 StarCraft II World Championship Series which are also along this weekend.
The live Twitch stream, ignoring fans at the venue and cheering from a variety of pubs, currently distributes to 154,000 viewers. Check out their website to watch live, check the schedule, and view past results. The tournament will continue until Sunday. The first match will begin just a minute or two after this publishes.
