Dota 2 International prize pool reaches $5 million in two days

And the tournament isn't starting until August, mind you. Last year, the prize pool hit $18 million.

Every year, Valve hosts a massive, world championship-scale tournament for Dota 2 dubbed The International. And every year, the studio gets the game's community to pitch in for the tournament's prize pool by offering up a collection of in-game items, challenges and other stuff called The Compendium.

The Compendium has been a ludicrous success, pushing the prize pool for each year's edition of The International ever higher. Last year, the total prize pool ended up at a whopping $18,4 millon.

On Tuesday, Valve opened up for sales of Battle Pass, which includes this year's edition of the Compendium. Fans who purchase it also get a variety of skins, a new tileset for the Dota 2 map, quests and other stuff that only people who play Dota regularly will understand.

It's been a resounding success already, with the prize pool for this year's The International already sitting at a cool $5,6 million. Given that the Battle Pass goes for $9,99, and only 25 percent of its price goes to the prize pool, we can conclude that it's generated sales of more than $21 million so far.

The International 2016 takes place in mid August, leaving plenty of time for the prize pool to increase further. At this point, its pretty much a given that last year's record of $18,4 million will be beat.

Stop by the Dota 2 website if you want to contribute to Valve's money hats.