The International 2025
— the main annual Dota 2 championship, which is perceived as the culmination of the season and attracts maximum audience attention. During such periods, interest in esports in the app spikes: people open matches more often,
but at the same time, not everyone wants to join the stream just to understand the situation.
Against this background, we had an idea: to give the user quick, clear context right on the match screen u2014 the game stage, draft/picks, and key events u2014 so that they could make a decision and place a bet without leaving to watch the broadcast.
Therefore, we decided to implement a combination of a page/promo and match widgets that remove the main barrier u2014
u201cI don't understand what's happening.u201d
Goal
Shorten the path from interest in a tournament to placing a bet.
Provide the user with enough gaming context to make a quick decision without taking them away from the betting interface.
Solution
Tournament hub and modular match widget system.
Widgets adapt to the stage of the match: displaying game status, statistics, draft, picks, and bans right above the betting line.
— Designed a tournament hub: promo mechanics, promotion rules, upcoming matches, and a quick transition to betting.
— Developed a modular "shelf" of match widgets for Dota 2 above the main betting line.
— Designed widgets for different match stages: live state, statistics, draft, picks, and bans.
— Packaged complex game data into a compact interface that helps to understand the match situation faster.
What was the most important thing in the design
- Reading speed: context in 1–2 seconds
- Compactness: a lot of data in the limited vertical space of a mobile screen
- Systemic approach: unified principles, but different entities and states
- Ability to easily adapt to other esports disciplines and scalability
Results
The metrics below have been altered/aggregated due to the NDA and reflect the order of effect based on post-release analysis and observations.
The conversion rate from the cyber section during TI increased by +8–9%
The average time to the first bet has decreased by 12–14% thanks to widgets that provide context without entering the broadcast.
The share of users who entered the broadcast "just to figure things out" has decreased, and bets from the match screen have increased.
Engagement on the screen has increased through interactions with the screen and transitions to relevant matches.
The quality of sessions has improved — fewer early exits without action (6–7%) and more targeted scenarios.
The promotional section from the mobile app was adapted for desktop using a Mobile-First approach
The work done on Dota 2 widgets later served as the foundation for creating similar widgets for CS2
Thank you for your attention!
The TI 2025 launch had more features than were included in the case — if you want, I can tell you about Ogre Magi on the main screen, the "multicast" mechanic, and other cool features from this project.
