New details on this year’s Dota 2 world championship have finally been revealed by Valve, including ticket prices and dates for the annual event, giving members of the game’s ever-growing community a chance to start planning their next trip to Seattle.
According to a new post on the Dota 2 blog, The International 2016 will begin on Aug. 8 and continue through Aug. 13. For the fourth consecutive year, the Dota 2 world championship will be contested inside of Seattle’s KeyArena. Ticketing for the event will be handled a bit differently this year, though. Attendance for the first four days of The International is covered by the $75 Midweek ticket, a four-day pass that grants the purchaser access to the event Aug. 8-11. Anyone interested in watching the final two days of the tournament will need to drop $100 on a Finals ticket. This means that the cost of watching the entire tournament this year is $175 per person (before travel/food/etc).
Thankfully, the company is (sort of) doing something to justify the higher ticket prices. In addition to the usual in-game drops, awarded to those watching The International via the Dota 2 client, those watching this year’s tournament inside KeyArena will have a chance to win prizes, too. Valve says 500 Attendee Treasures will be distributed to the audience after every First Blood, each of which will contain “visually-unique” versions of this year’s Secret Shop immortal items.
As usual, tickets for The International will be sold via Ticketmaster. Sales will be complete in two waves, both of which will be distributed on on April 7. The first round of tickets will be released at 10 a.m. PST followed by another set 12 hours later at 10 p.m. Valve recommends updating your Ticketmaster account prior to April 7, to expedite checkout, and has also published a Ticketing FAQ for anyone with additional questions about the tickets for this year’s International.
Be sure to check back with iDigitalTimes.com and follow Scott on Twitter for additional Dota 2 coverage throughout 2016 and for however long Valve supports Dota 2 in the coming months.
