Dota 2 Majors are the main tournaments in the DPC series organized by Valve. Teams from 6 competitive regions play at the Majors.
Majors in competitive disciplines, just like in Dota 2, have become commonplace but it was not always. They emerged in Dota 2 for the first time in 2015, after which they began filling the esports ecosystem in Dota 2 and finally became its central part.
The history of appearance: the 2015-2016 season
The Majors were discussed for the first time in 2015. In April, Valve decided to make significant changes to the competitive Dota 2 scene, having announced the introduction of the Major tournaments in the ecosystem.
The Major system in Dota 2 was added after The International 2015. The whole competitive year was divided by seasons:
- Autumn – The Frankfurt Major 2015
- Winter – The Shanghai Major 2016
- Spring – The Manila Major 2016
Rating points and 3,000,000 dollars were up for grabs at every championship. The International remained the final point of the season but the rules of qualifying for the main tournament of the year were changed. The teams to make it to the tournament directly were determined by the number of points earned for participation in the Majors.
In 2017, the number of Majors was reduced to two. The Boston Major 2016 and The Kiev Major 2017 were hosted that year. The International 2017 was carried out according to play but Valve revealed the updated format of the competitive Dota 2 ecosystem for the next season.
The 2017-2018 season – the appearance of the Minors and lots of ranked tournaments
Having realized that the updated system was working, Valve decided to modernize it. In 2017, the Dota 2 developers introduced global changes to competitive Dota 2.
Now, the Dota 2 Majors became the tournaments hosted by third-party studios. Valve is the main sponsor, however, the prize pool of the Majors was reduced from 3,000,000 to 500,000 dollars in the 2017-2018 season.
Besides the Majors, the ecosystem also had the Minors, another type of tournament hosted under the patronage of Valve. Just like the Majors, they became a central part of the ecosystem of the competitive Dota 2 scene, allowing teams demonstrating high results there to qualify for the Majors.
9 tournaments of the Major rank were hosted in the 2017-2018 season but only 5 of them left a year later. Besides, there were 13 Minors in the 2017-2018 season and 5 more were carried out in the 2018-2019 season.
The updated format did not stick. Due to a big number of tournaments and the oversaturation of Dota 2 matches, Valve decided to reform the Major system and return to its roots.
5 Majors and 4 Minors were carried out in the 2019-2020 season, however, the COVID-19 pandemic interfered. Due to the spread of coronavirus, half of the season was canceled: 2 Majors and 3 Minors were hosted instead of 5 scheduled Majors and 4 Minors.
The transition to the regional DPC league and the return to the seasonal Majors
Due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, Valve introduced the system of regional leagues. Competitive Dota 2 was divided into 6 regions: Western and Eastern Europe, North and South America, Southeast Asia, and China.
Now, a slot in the Major was guaranteed on the outcome of the performance in domestic leagues. A particular number of participants from leagues went to the tournament and Minor championships disappeared.
In the autumn season, the teams playing in the regional leagues proceeded to the regional final instead of the usual Major event. The COVID-19 situation normalized in the winter season and teams from all regions, except for China (the pandemic was still raging there), qualified for ESL One Stockholm 2022.
PGL Arlington Major 2022 was the final Major of the 2022 season, which was followed by The International 2022 in Singapore.
The 2023 season and the complete return to the roots
The professional Dota 2 cycle completely returned to its roots in the 2023 competitive season. Valve announced 3 Major tournaments being hosted by third-party companies and DPC leagues are played in regions between the Majors.
The first Major event in 2023 was The Lima Major 2023. The distribution of participants at the Peruvian Major looks as follows:
- 4 teams from Western Europe
- 4 teams from China
- 3 teams from Eastern Europe
- 3 teams from Southeast Asia
- 2 teams from South America
- 2 teams from North America
At The Lima Major 2023, 500,000 and 1,900 DPC points were traditionally up for grabs. The tournament was organized by 4D Esports and Epulze.
Besides The Lima Major 2023, the 2023 competitive season will have ESL One Berlin 2023 and The Bali Major by IO Esports.
The organizers and the prize pools of the Dota 2 Majors
Valve had been the main organizer of the Dota 2 Majors before 2017. The company was the only one to host these events and work on logistical issues of the tournament, including the delivery of teams to the venues, and so on.
Valve worked on the creation of 5 Majors: The Frankfurt Major 2015, The Shanghai Major 2016, The Manila Major 2016, and The Kiev Major 2017. The prize pool of each tournament was equal to 3,000,000 dollars.
Starting in 2017, third-party companies organize the Majors, the most outstanding ones are ESL, PGL, Perfect World, 4D Esports, and IO Esports.
From 2017 to 2020, the prize pool of the Dota 2 Majors was equal to 1,000,000 dollars. The only exception was China Dota2 Supermajor in 2018: 1,500,000 dollars was up for grabs there.
The prize pool of the Majors has been equal to 500,000 dollars since 2021.
Where can you find the broadcast and the Dota 2 Major schedule and other large Dota 2 tournaments?
It can be complicated to follow the events in competitive Dota 2 due to the busy match schedule and many matches. You can avoid the oversaturation of competitive Dota 2 with the help of EGamersWorld.
On our resource, we provide brief materials with the most important information without unnecessary “white noise”: the Dota 2 Major match schedule, live broadcasts of matches at large tournaments with the ability to choose one of 11 languages, live scores of matches, and others.
Besides, the editors of EGamersWorld share analytics of Dota 2 Major matches and other major events. We collect all the important information about teams and publish it in a ready format, which will help you choose your favorites. Among other things, all authorized users of the EGamersWorld portal can make betting tips for esports events.
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