The International 5: A Festival of Dota 2

How Valve made an $18 million tournament priceless.

BigDaddy and fan.

ESports events should be festivals, not concerts. This seems to be the message broadcasted by ESL during ESL One Frankfurt and even more so by Valve at The International 5.  TI5 not only brought together 16 of the best teams in the world to compete for $18 million, it also gathered together thousands of devoted Dota 2 fans to the KeyArena in Seattle.

The incredible interest of the community is self-evident in the crowd-funded prize pool for TI5 which smashed the record $11 million prize pool from last year.  It was only fitting that Valve repay in kind, and the nail-biting clashes between Dota 2 titans were not the only items on the hype menu.

Autograph sessions

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Juggernaut Plaza, home of the autograph sessions, was THE place to go for hardcore fans, heavily guarded by two well-built security guards. With a schedule updated daily it was an opportunity for 1-on-1 time with the visitor’s favourite player or personality. Each session lasted 30 minutes with the queue for the next celebrity eagerly waiting while watching the games livestreamed around them.

What is more, Valve invested in a photo booth! Instead of phone selfies after getting a t-shirt or poster signed, the adoring fan could have a priceless professional photo with their favorite celebrity, which was a massive hit with the visiting fans.

Workshop displays

Once again Valve invited well-established Workshop artists such as Danidem and Anuxi to share their creations at TI, with an area around the main stage purely dedicated to the artists behind many of the famous in-game cosmetics.  All of the columns around the KeyArena were adorned with Dota 2 artwork, and the visitors not only received a poster from the artists, but also had the opportunity to talk to them in person about their creations as well as upcoming projects.

Cosplayers

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Cosplayers were everywhere at TI5, from couples dressed up as Clarity potions and Tangos to the infamous Wizard galloping around on his fictitious mount.  The cosplayers who trudged the halls for six days did so with a smile and really brought Valve’s game to life for the visitors.

Secret Shop

[video] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh_Ngg52UqY[/video]

The Secret Shop was the largest daily attraction outside of the main stage at TI5, and for some the real reason why they made the journey to Seattle. To cope with demand the Secret Shop was only open for pre-orders on the first two days of the event, but after that all hell broke loose. Just to add to the joyous mayhem, Valve even unleashed free swag into the air via a specially-designed Plushy gun, with the first shot fired by NBA superstar Jeremy Lin.  Free umbrellas were also handed out to those waiting in line during the summer heat-wave!

All-star match

However, the crowning joy of TI5 was the All-Star Match. Last year, Valve unleashed Techies during the All-Star match, but this year Valve outdid themselves, flipping the aging 5 v 5 on its head and turning it into a beautifully chaotic 10 v 10. The additional 10 players were hand-picked by the two captains BigDaddyN0Tail of Cloud9 and ChuaN of IG from the crowd inside the KeyArena.

One of the audience picked was a Pudge cosplayer who stayed in character, much to the amusement of the crowd, but when he sat down next to Puppey, host Kaci asked the Team Secret captain whether he wished it was his former team-mate Dendi. “Isn’t he?” replied Puppey.

Kaci slowly removed the Pudge mask only for the audience and viewers at home to see it was Dendi himself, the poster boy of Dota 2. The crowd erupted, pandemonium ensued. TI5 was now officially the best TI to date for both the viewers at home and the spectators in the KeyArena. Valve had pulled off the impossible.