Valve has let slip their plans to release this year’s version of The International Compendium in the coming week, alongside a myriad of other community-based announcements for their return to Seattle in a blog post today.
While it isn’t the Battle Pass players have gotten used to over the previous few iterations of TI, the Compendium’s return was hinted at in the closing statements of Sept. 23’s blog post, which also mentioned that tickets for the Road to the International—the “group stage” of TI12—are now sold out. “Only about a thousand” tickets remain up for grabs for the playoffs weekend, according to Valve.
Valve also will be opening a page for TI12 pubstomp signups. Officially recognized Dota 2 pubstomps act as live viewing parties for avid Dota fans who cannot attend the pinnacle tournament in person. Valve says it plans to cross live to a selection of these events during TI matchdays, enhancing the community element of the broadcast.
Despite reports the company made nearly $300 million USD from TI11’s Battle Pass in 2022, Valve made the decision to change up their approach to side content for this year’s version of The International back in June.
Ultimately, Valve decided on the return of the Compendium, which was first coined in 2013 ahead of TI3. Featuring a collection of updated resources and information about The International available in the Dota client intended to hype up the tournament for viewers, whilst also boosting the prize pool of the event, its addition was welcomed by the community.
The Compendium was ultimately overshadowed as Valve went the Battle Pass route thereafter, granting plenty of cosmetic and gameplay enhancements that saw prize pools soar to ridiculous levels. Now, the Compendium is back—but players are still concerned whether its return will fill the void of the Battle Pass’ absence.
We’ll know for sure what the Compendium will include next week, with the pre-TI12 Dota 2 patch expected on Thursday. Next week is set to be monumental for Valve, with rumors swirling of Counter-Strike 2’s release on Wednesday just before the Dota 2 patch.
