Valve announces "The International" Dota 2 Tournament- $1 Million Prize

[Sliver]

[br]Valve has announced that a Dota 2 tournament will be held at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany on August 17-21. Over 16 teams will compete in a group stage, double elimination format that will have the prize for first place being $1 Million.

?The International is the first public Dota 2 event and will give the tens of millions of gamers playing Dota around the world their first look at the new game,? said Gabe Newell, president and founder of Valve. ?I have had the good fortune to watch the competitors as they prepare for the tournament, and the level of play is extraordinary.?

Also mentioned is the fact that Dota 2 will be available sometime later this year. The full blog post can be read here. [br]Update: Dota 2 now has a Steam store page which says that a large scale beta will be available in the Fall.

 

[Higlac]

Sweet, I only recently discovered Dota-esque games, should be fun to watch.

To Valve: Just take my money.

 

[Lobster]

I hope they stream the whole thing live, its a great way to show off this type of game for the first time, plus having all those pro players involved from such an early stage, bodes well for the stability of the launch product.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

A million bloody dollars.

 

[Omnomnick]

Also mentioned is the fact that Dota 2 will be available sometime later this year.

Coming April 2012.

 

[Higlac]

Coming April 2012.

Nope, July, or maybe christmas if we're lucky.

 

[Acepilotf14]

Well okay.

 

[Ennui]

Man, $1,000,000 is one hell of a prize. I really hope this means that Valve is going to start making games with eSports in mind... like another Counter Strike maybe, because FPS esports are shitty nowadays.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Wow.

I'm not sure if people realize how big a deal this is for international competitive PC gaming...

 

[MFL]

This and the Counterstike pro's visiting Valve are cryptic omens of a bright future.

 

[-smash-]

Very interesting move. I would love to hear what Valve's stance is on eSports today. Usually we just get a "we support it" line from Valve, AFAIK. But it looks like they're creating this game with tournaments in mind.

 

[ríomhaire]

I just want to know whether it's going to be F2P or not. I want to try it, but I don't want to spend a chunk of cash on it just to find out that I don't like it at all (yes I know Dota Allstars and LoL are free but the online communities have a bit of a reputation, so I'm waiting for Dota 2 what with the coaching system and all).

 

[Otto-Grainer]

Wow.

I'm not sure if people realize how big a deal this is for international competitive PC gaming...

I know, and like, this all just came out of nowhere. Suddenly a surge of activity after a lot of silence.
Quite a surprise, quite energetic... QUITE AWESOME!

I hope they stream the whole thing live, its a great way to show off this type of game for the first time,

Mate, they are: "Live Worldwide Video Broadcast In Four Languages - Chinese, English, German, Russian"

 

[Lobster]

Mate, they are: "Live Worldwide Video Broadcast In Four Languages - Chinese, English, German, Russian"

It was dumb of me to question it really, of course they are going to stream it, its the whole point! ><

 

[Arto572]

OFFTOPIC:

When i readed the thread title at the homepage, i tought ''Valve Announces Episode 3''

 

[Kisze]

OFFTOPIC:

When i readed the thread title at the homepage, i tought ''Valve Announces Episode 3''

You have a bright future here at Halflife2.net. Please stick around.

 

[Bluestrike]

A tournament on a unreleased game?

 

[ríomhaire]

A tournament on a unreleased game?

It's called "publicity".

 

[DEATH eVADER]

I did notice something odd though in that at Gamescom, Valve have set up two exhibitions

A large one in Hall 7 (I'm assuming that will be where the tournament takes place) and another in Hall 4, which is about 1/4 the size. Is this so they can present the game to journalists without distracting the pro-gamers? The thing is I checked Gamescom about month and half ago, and Valve only had the larger booth, is the second booth an afterthought?

 

[ríomhaire]

Maybe they'll be talking about CSGO?

 

[DEATH eVADER]

Maybe they'll be talking about CSGO?

But I thought they were going to reveal gameplay at PAX?

 

[Shakermaker]

There are a whole lotta replays on the Dota 2 YouTube channel. Game looks really nice.