Team Bundles in Dota 2

In May 2021, Valve added team bundles to Dota 2 for Dota Pro Circuit league participants, with 50% of sales revenue going directly to the clubs. This allows fans to support their favorite organizations and players, and organizations to have an additional income source not tied to their professional scene performance.

Economically, the bundle system is simple. There are three types of team bundles - Bronze ($1.99), Silver ($9.98), and Gold ($19.97). By purchasing a Bronze bundle, the player receives the club's emblem next to their username. With a Silver bundle, access to emoticons and graffiti is opened. Gold provides access to the team's custom loading screen and set of voice lines.

The downside of this system is that each club receives income separately. A more logical system for the development of the professional scene would be if 50% of the total income from bundle sales was evenly distributed among league participants. In this way, less popular organizations and esports players can receive the necessary boost for further development.

Capsule VCT LOCK//IN in Valorant

Soon, Riot Games will add the VCT LOCK//IN capsule to Valorant as support for clubs participating in the shooter's franchised leagues. The developers reused Valve's experience with bundles and 50% of the capsule sales revenue will be evenly distributed among organizations.

Purchasing the capsule, the player will receive a knife skin, profile card, and spray. Depending on the region, the item decorations will vary. The official capsule announcement specifies that sales will be limited.

CS:GO has stickers for major participants, do we really need anything else?

There are team stickers in CS:GO for teams that made it to the Major, but that's not enough. We agree that the sale of capsule stickers from organizations generates significant profits, but how many of these teams are there? There are only 24 of them. As a result, many teams that have qualified for RMR are left with nothing.

The sticker system has been in Valve's shooter since 2014, and there is no need to change it. However, it is worth considering the possibility of adding something for RMR competition participants with an equal distribution of income. A capsule system similar to the one Riot Games will add to Valorant would be a good option. The introduction of such a system would allow second- and third-tier teams to receive additional funding, which in its turn would help the development of the entire CS:GO scene.

Let's sum up

Maintaining a CS:GO roster is quite costly and there will barely be enough prize money for it. Of course, sponsors can help, but lesser-known clubs or stacks of players may not always find such support. So, Valve should consider introducing an additional system to support teams in addition to the existing stickers. The option we proposed is just one of many possible options for the development of pro scene. We know one thing for sure, something definitely needs to be done.