The Frankfurt Major 2015 is the first seasonal Valve-sponsored tournament (or "Major") to take place, and the only one to be held in 2015. The event will be organized by European eSports group ESL Gaming at the Festhalle Messe in Frankfurt, Germany in November 2015. It will feature 16 teams competing for a prize pool of US$3 million, the fourth biggest prizepool to ever be given by any event after the 2015 and 2014 editions of The International and the Dota 2 Asia Championship 2015. Unlike previous Valve-sponsored tournaments, the Frankfurt Major 2015 did not increase its base prizepool via crowfunding, but has (like its predecessors) a dedicated Compendium that includes previous features such as level rewards, coins and charms; as well as newly-introduced mechanics such as item crafting and upgradable ability effects.
Evil Geniuses, winners of The International 2015, was the only champion to be directly invited to the event. The four previous winners (Natus Vincere, Invictus Gaming, Alliance and most prominently Newbee) were sent to the Regional Qualifiers. Out of all the invited teams, only Vega Squadron did not participate in The International 2015's Main Event, being eliminated at the Wild Card round by MVP Phoenix. The Frankfurt Major 2015 featured an Open Qualifiers phase similar to the one held for The International 2015, which took place during the first week of October and was organized by FaceIt and Perfect World.