The Defense 3 tournament has started and a ticket is now available on the Dota 2 Store. What separates this item from previous ones is the inclusion of an exclusive in-game Courier with every purchase. We are excited to see Tournaments looking for ways to add extra value to their events. In this case, JoinDota teamed up with Vlad the Implyer (a prolific Workshop contributor) to bring you Ramnaught of Underwool.

A few months ago, when we introduced in-game tournament tickets and team pennants, one of our goals was to create new sources of revenue for leagues and tournaments. While sponsors and ad revenue are useful sources for tournaments, they’re indirect – the funding doesn’t come from the tournament viewers themselves. We believe that long-term, for tournaments to be stable and grow year over year they need to be self-sustainable from direct revenue, and not at the mercy of changing attitudes in sponsoring companies. Figuring out ways for tournaments to do that will take some time and experimentation, so it’s great to see the community getting involved in that experimentation, and even more exciting to see the competitive community working with the Workshop community in the process. Initial signs are good – The Defense 3 has earned several times more in its first week than The Defense 1 did in its lifetime.

Yesterday’s update also contains Na`Vi’s official courier, the Weaslecrow, a collaboration between Na`Vi and a group of Workshop contributors. It’s the first time we’ve tried a branded item associated directly with professional players, and we’re excited to see how that will turn out. If you’re a Na`Vi fan like us, you can pick one up over here.

What does this mean for you?

If you’re a tournament organisation, we’d encourage you to think further about ways you could provide value to your viewers. If there are ways that seem interesting to you, and require some work from us, then drop us a line with your proposal. If you think you could create value by collaborating in some way with a Workshop contributor, then peruse the Workshop and ping someone whose work you like.

If you’re a professional player, think about how you could experiment with similar revenue sources. If you’re known for playing a specific Hero, why not collaborate with a Workshop contributor to build branded items for that Hero?

If you’re a Workshop contributor, look for opportunities to work with other people or organisations in the community that provide value to the community as a whole.

If you’re a player, relax and keep on playing. We hope these efforts will result in a vibrant and stable competitive scene, where professional players and tournaments can focus on providing you with the most entertaining Dota possible. If you’re a fan of a team, or a specific player, and want to show them that you enjoy their efforts, drop them a line and let them know you’d appreciate it if they created a way for you to help them continue to grow.

We’re always happy to listen to community members who have interesting ideas for how to build a better business for the competitive community, so jump aboard and help us figure this out.