Despite fan outcry, Nemestice Battle Pass sells over 800k copies

William Davis Published 01/07/2021

The Nemestice battle pass has received a lot of criticism, but that hasn’t stopped at least 840,000 players from picking it up.

Dota 2 stat tracker and grinding tool STRATZ is recording the number of users who have purchased the Nemestice battle pass. The website tracks both the number of battle passes purchased and the amount of money spent on additional levels. 

While there’s still time for that number to grow, the vast majority of battle passes are purchased early in the season. Valve’s weekly reset system greatly encourages early purchases. The total number of sales is unlikely to breach 1,000,000. The battle pass for The International 10 sold 1,745,721 units, according to STRATZ. 

The highest battle pass level currently belongs to a Chinese player who goes by the username 入梦. They spent over $7,500 to get their battle pass to level 18,102. Second place goes to Saudi Arabian prince Abdullah bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud at level 10,018. New rewards stop appearing after level 500.

Valve receives 100% of the revenue generated from the Nemestice battle pass. This is a departure from the normal system where 25% of battle pass proceeds go to The International’s prize pool. Valve’s crowdfunding system has produced the largest prize pool in esports history year after year. The five most-paying esports tournaments in history are all editions of The International.

Why are people mad about the Nemestice battle pass?

Those high sales come in spite of the community’s anger towards the new battle pass. One of the reasons is Valve’s 100% cut. Many Dota 2 fans take pride in crowdfunding The International. They get awesome skins and some of their money goes towards supporting the pro scene. The lack of a prize pool cut has left a bad impression on some players.

Another issue is the headline Spectre arcana that’s locked behind level 330. That’s a massive number that can’t be reached for free even with a level 100 starting point. The Spectre arcana was a community-voted arcana from the TI10 battle pass. The previous community voted arcanas are available in the Steam Store for $34.99 and even cheaper on the community market. The Spectre arcana costs well over $100.

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