World's largest video game tournament DOTA 2 coming to Vancouver next week

Aug 18 2018, 1:53 am

The world’s most elite video gamers and their fans will be descending onto downtown Vancouver next week. 

DOTA 2 is a free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena game with over 10 million players around the world and it is going down at Rogers Arena from August 20 to 25.

Organizers of the International DOTA 2 Championships have ditched their longtime home of Seattle and relocated their week-long event to Vancouver for the first time ever.

The event is the largest annual eSports tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious, with a prize pool of about US$25 million during last year’s iteration of the tournament, with the winner taking home nearly US$10.9 million.

Locals have previously won some of the tournament’s top prizes. In 2015, Vancouver resident and former UBC student Kurtis Ling was part of a five-member team that won DOTA 2’s then-top prize of $6.6 million.

According to a Forbes article in 2014, the best streamers (people who play video games for others to watch) can earn as much as US$300,000 per year, and that does not include income from winning prizes at eSports tournaments such as DOTA 2.

Millions of gamers worldwide will watch the Vancouver tournament live through internet video game streaming website Twitch.

The International DOTA 2 Tournament 2018

When: Monday, August 20 to Saturday, August 25, 2018

Where: Rogers Arena – 800 Griffiths Way, Vancouver

Tickets: Available online. CAD$125 for midweek (first four days) and CAD$250 for the finals (last two days).

With files from Kenneth Chan. 

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