10 years ago, Valve invented the battle pass. The developer was looking for a way to boost the cash it was offering to pro players of its game Dota 2, and make some bank for itself in the process. Charging people to watch the tournaments wasn’t really viable after two years of giving it away for free, and putting ads around the broadcast or in-game would annoy a ton of people (and did nine years later). But then Valve had a brain wave: what if it sold a digital book and included some hats?
That may be an oversimplification of the process that went on at Valve all those years ago, but the result was The International 3 Compendium, a digital book inside of Dota 2 that fans could buy. It featured info about the tournament, and allowed fans to make predictions, play fantasy Dota (like fantasy football), and even vote on who would play in the all-star match. It also came bundled with some cosmetics such as a courier, taunts, and an XP boost. At the time, it seemed like a pretty good deal just for those items alone.
