Valve is selling Dota 2 compendiums, allowing players to contribute to The International 2023 prize pool. However, fundraising is not going particularly well; this time the compendium comes without skins, and this has angered the community: they have raised just over $2.5 million (last year by this time it was around 9+ million).
Against this backdrop, Valve’s gesture regarding the Arab Dota 2 tournament attracted attention: it is reported that the Riyadh Masters prize pool was capped at $15 million.
There is an opinion that Valve is mitigating reputational damage this way: fundraising for the marquee tournament The International 2023 is currently very poor, and a massive prize pool at a third-party event would not look very good.