Continuing to blaze new trails, Valve Software have revealed another clever new way they will be able to make some dollars and give a little something back from their upcoming free-to-play title Dota 2, announcing a Tournaments feature that will charge both participants and spectators for entry.

From the data we gather throughout the system, it’s clear that many players, of all skill levels, find it entertaining to watch highly skilled players. So, in the same way that we’ve used the Steam Workshop to connect people that are creating a lot of value for customers who are enjoying it, we think we need to connect tournament organizers and professional players to their fans. Our next update includes the first step towards this.

The official Dota 2 blog has a detailed explanation of the whole tournaments service, but here's the points of note:

• Spectators purchase access to tournaments to watch live games with commentary and spectator functionality.
  
• Profits from these sales will be shared with the tournament organisers (currently being trialled with The Defense).
  
• Teams can register in-game to make it easier to find competitive matches.

The patch adding these features (as well as a new hero and a bunch of other additions and fixes) is now live for those with beta access.

There's still no official release date for the public launch, but interested players that don't yet have access can still try their luck by completing this survey.

Promoted/Edited form item.