The growing trend of watching online multiplayer gaming matches via streaming video could become a money maker for the organizers of those matches. In a new post on the official Dota 2 blog, Valve announced that it was adding a new feature to the current beta version of the action-RPG game that will allow gaming tournament organizers to charge money to the public in order to view online matches in the game.
The new feature will allow users of Dota 2 to check out which matches they want to watch. They can then select that match and pay the amount set by the tournament organizers. The revenue from those online tickets will be shared between Valve and the tournament organizers but a breakdown of the revenues" percentages was not revealed. It is being tested out first for this weekend"s The Defense event.
In its blog post, Valve said that this new feature is not meant to replace viewing online matches via a streaming web browser connection. However, it added, " .... we think there are some customers who’d like to invest in a higher fidelity, richer experience that they have more control over, and we hope to be able to provide that with the in-game Tournament view."
Valve also announced that it is testing out a new Team system in the new DOTA 2 beta build. The blog states, "In addition to storing a variety of statistics about the long term performance of the Team, the game also detects matches between competitive teams, and uses the Team’s information to highlight the match."
Source: Dota 2 blog | Image via Valve