Eiritel explained why the prize pool for Riyadh Masters 2025 was reduced and how Valve is involved

As Daria “Eiritel” Morozova put it, the Riyadh Masters 2025 organizers are only in competition with The International 2025, and in her estimation, they have no hope of Valve spending additional money on The Championship so there Masters will not pay more money either.

The Dota 2 commentator covered this on her Telegram channel.

“IT makes sense to reduce the prize pool. Riyadh Masters are those lonesome fellows who are only trying to compete with The International. If Valve is not going to churn out the money, then the Riyadh Masters organizers are not going to toss dough around for no good reason. The invite to Gladiators is also reasonable, albeit baffling, but the classical tournament format is intriguing”

Eiritel stressed that the only tournament which can try to rival the Riyadh Masters 2025 is The International 2025. If Valve decides to slash the prize pool for the world championship, then Riyadh Master organizers are not going to spend more money which accounts for this year’s puzzling two million dollar reduction.

She also argued that the direct invitation to the Masters in Riyadh is logical for the organizers even if it is controversial given the team’s current form.

Remember that previously the organizers of the Riyadh Masters 2025 have altered the rules for the top three tournaments of the year.