Singapore To Host Dota 2 Major From 20-28 Jun 2020
The esports scene in Singapore is growing and becoming more recognised, especially after our 2nd place finish in the 2019 SEA games.
This may be one of the reasons why Singapore decided to venture into hosting a tournament for one of esports’ biggest titles, Dota 2.
According to The Straits Times, Singapore will be hosting 1 of 5 Dota 2 Majors in June 2020.
The Dota 2 Majors determine qualification for the annual premiere Dota 2 tournament, The International (TI).
Singapore Major has $1,360,000 prize pool
The event – organised by One Esports with the support of the Singapore Tourism Board and esports tournament organisers PGL – will see the top 16 teams from around the world playing for a prize pool of $1.36 million (US$1 million).
Team OG, Champions of The International 2018 & 2019
Source
It is reported that the tournament will be held from 20-28 Jun 2020 and will be the last of the 5 major Dota 2 tournaments for teams to earn points to participate in TI.
TI’s prize pools are the largest in esports at over $46 million (US$34 million). This year’s champion, Team OG, walked away with a staggering $20 million (US$15 million) in winnings.
So if you thought that the prize pool of $1.36 million is big, think again.
Huge game with global audience made hosting Dota 2 events “natural choice”
With Dota 2 being such a widely known game around the world, there is no doubt as to why Singapore jumped at the chance of hosting the event.
One Esports chief executive officer Carlos Alimurung said
Dota 2 is a huge game with a global audience… it also has an open ecosystem and community, so that made it a natural choice for us [to stage an event].
Meanwhile, STB’s representative said that Singapore has seen an increase in the number of tourists visiting the country for esports events.
At the moment, ONE Esports is also hosting the Dota 2 World Pro Invitational at Singapore Indoor Stadium this weekend (20-22 Dec), featuring top teams such as Secret and PSG.LGD.
If your interest is piqued, you can head down and have a taste of what the Singapore Dota 2 Major will be like next year.
What is Dota 2?
For those of you who don’t know much about Dota 2, here’s some basic information.
Dota 2 is unarguably one of esports’ biggest and most successful games, bolstering 400,000 players monthly.
It is a 5-on-5 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game that aims to takes the opponent’s most important structure, The Ancient.
It’s also known as that game that your partner won’t stop talking about or playing, and has robbed the time of many a Singaporean.
Fun fact: Dota stands for Defense of the Ancients, which originates from a popular custom map on the video game Warcraft III.
Prestigious honour & boost in tourism to host major
The venue and seating capacity of the tournament are still unknown but we expect it to be huge, as it is one of the most important tournaments for Dota 2.
Tourists and fans from around the world are sure to fly over to watch this event, which will mean that Singapore is most likely to experience an influx in tourists numbers next year.
Let’s all hope that the event will run smoothly and that more games like League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will hold tournaments here.
Featured image adapted from Fox Sports Asia.
