The International could be heading north. Valve isn’t yet talking publicly about its plans, but several clues point to the video-game giant moving its huge Dota 2 esports tournament from its backyard in Seattle across the border to Vancouver, B.C. The International is one of the largest esports events in the U.S., drawing sold-out crowds that pack KeyArena to watch the world’s top Dota 2 players compete for a $24.7 million prize pool. The tournament, which started in Germany six years ago, was previously held at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall before Valve moved it in 2014 to a larger venue at… Read More
The Dota 2 esports tournament in Seattle, known as The International, demonstrates how video games have become hugely popular team sports — and today alpha geek Elon Musk took the occasion to tout a different kind of team effort. Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, is also a big supporter of OpenAI, a nonprofit research company aimed at boosting artificial intelligence architectures and applications that benefit humanity. Today, OpenAI showed off an AI bot that vanquished Danylo “Dendi” Ishutin, one of the world’s top Dota 2 players, in a one-vs.-one demonstration match. “OK, this guy is scary,” Ishutin said as he… Read More
Why do people spend their hard-earned cash and travel from all around the world to Seattle, just to watch other people play video games? It’s been a question on my mind ever since I first attended The International in 2015. The annual Dota 2 tournament hosted by Bellevue, Wash.-based gaming giant Valve draws in thousands from across the globe who pack KeyArena and cheer on their favorite professional gamers who are competing for a $23.9 million prize pool, the largest ever in esports history. I get why people pay big bucks to attend the Super Bowl or the World Cup. I… Read More
If you need another reminder of the massive growth of esports, head down to KeyArena in Seattle this week for The International. That’s where the most lucrative esports event of all time kicks off Monday, with the world’s top professional Dota 2 gamers duking it out in front of thousands of fans packed into a stadium more typically known for hosting traditional sporting events like basketball. But this is 2017, and professional video gaming has surged into relevance — both from a popularity and financial perspective. [Follow-up: Why people love esports: Scenes from Valve’s huge $24M Dota 2 tournament] The prize… Read More
