DotA 2 Champions Win $1 Million

Fanghawk

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DotA 2 Champions Win $1 Million

Invictus Gaming crushed the competition at Valve's second International DotA 2 Championship.

It may not get the same kind of attention as physical sports, but a thriving professional gaming community exists with its own celebrities, commentators, and <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/119276-MLG-Disqualifies-Top-Two-League-of-Legends-Teams>even scandals. If you needed any convincing of this fact, you need look no further than The International 2012, a Defense of the Ancients 2 championship held in Seattle last week. The tournament attracted teams from around the world, finally cultimating with China's Invictus Gaming team taking home an impressive one-million-dollar grand prize. And that's for a game still in its beta phase.

The International Grand Final consisted of a best-of-five game series between iG and last year's champions, the Ukrainian-based Natus Vincere (Na'Vi). The Chinese team pulled off a stunning victory by winning 3 of the 5 planned games to take home the million dollar prize, while Na'Vi was rewarded a $250,000 second prize for their efforts. The entire tournament made use of <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118004-Valve-Extends-DotA-2-Tournament-Support>Valve's new tournament-streaming features, allowing fans and interested spectators to stream the event through either the International's website or an in-game event viewer.

I've never personally played MOBA games like DotA 2 or League of Legends, but it's hard to deny that the professional tournaments built around them are an important fixture of the gaming landscape. Competitive gaming may not be quite as influential as baseball or football games, but Valve clearly sees value in supporting million dollar championships, filling stadiums with cheering fans, and even <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/119130-Valve-Releases-First-Trailer-for-its-Pro-Gamer-Documentary>making documentaries about professional finalists. If these trends continue, perhaps we can see professional gaming become a much bigger, and more accepted, industry in the next few years.

Source: Joystiq

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Sight Unseen

The North Remembers
Nov 18, 2009
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I watched the games through Dota 2 live the other day. It was very cool to see the top players fighting for the prize money, and the commentators made it very entertaining to watch. Hopefully professional gaming becomes more of a thing, because this was definitely more entertaining than watching a soccer or basketball game.
 

Epidemiix

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Jan 3, 2012
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Between all of the streams and the in game client, there were about 500,000 people watching. Which is really not too bad. XD
Congratulations go out to IG for winning.....even though I wanted Na'Vi to win. :D
 

Lncredible

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Mar 23, 2009
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It was 3 - 1 to IG actually - the last game in the series didn't need to be played!

I found myself watching and supporting the European teams, as they diminished in the later rounds to just Na Vi (and about 5 Chinese teams [nothing against them! Just underdog syndrome!]). It was heart-in-mouth tense in the semi finals, when Na Vi faced off against a team that had won every single match prior to the semi finals (sometime like 17 wins, no losses) - team LGD.

I missed the final, mainly because it was broadcast too late at night for my working lifestyle, but I will catch up with it at some point. Can't wait for next year ;)

As for IG - well done to them - as they had to come through from the losers bracket and defeat many good teams to get back into it, and then won the final!
 

Geisterkarle

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I watched the start of the final map ... then I had to go to work. But it was already in iG's favor!

About the user numbers...:

http://i.imgur.com/cD09b.jpg
 

blackdwarf

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can someone tell me why there are already huge championships from this game even though the game itself is still in beta? why is this not release, why?

it makes me mad that there are huge events like these and i can't even play it.
 

Lyri

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As the owner of The Escapist Dota 2 group.

Join us.

DotA 2 Group! [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/DotA-2]
 

deth2munkies

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Well it's funny, Game 1 (which you linked) was a blowout for IG, Navi blew them out harder in G2, then G3-4 were actually pretty good.
 

Lncredible

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deth2munkies said:
Well it's funny, Game 1 (which you linked) was a blowout for IG, Navi blew them out harder in G2, then G3-4 were actually pretty good.
The semi finals between Na Vi and LGD were extremely good (winner bracket). Check em out!
 

Zeriah

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Anyone know how high the peak viewer numbers got, if you combine both viewing options?
 

deth2munkies

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Lncredible said:
deth2munkies said:
Well it's funny, Game 1 (which you linked) was a blowout for IG, Navi blew them out harder in G2, then G3-4 were actually pretty good.
The semi finals between Na Vi and LGD were extremely good (winner bracket). Check em out!
I watched nearly the entire tournament, and yeah, that match was pretty good. My attention was divided between The International, SCG Open, and LoL Regionals.
 

SpAc3man

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blackdwarf said:
can someone tell me why there are already huge championships from this game even though the game itself is still in beta? why is this not release, why?

it makes me mad that there are huge events like these and i can't even play it.
Because as of right now there are around 40,000 people playing DotA 2. The peak today was 80,000.

If you want to play then just apply to get into the beta and you will be playing within the month.
 

Mariakko

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Nov 21, 2011
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I skipped a day of lectures to sit back and watch these finals. It was worth every second, and I've learnt some new tricks.
 

SomeLameStuff

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Apr 26, 2009
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Evil Smurf said:
A million dollars to win a game? Where do I join up?
Well good luck with that. It took me nearly four years to reach that level of skill. And I don't think I can keep up with some of the higher level players yet.

OT: I'm actually surprised Na`Vi lost. They looked really good in the group and semi-finals while iG kinda flopped for a bit. Still, was very entertaining.
 

SomeLameStuff

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llagrok said:
SomeLameStuff said:
Evil Smurf said:
A million dollars to win a game? Where do I join up?
Well good luck with that. It took me nearly four years to reach that level of skill. And I don't think I can keep up with some of the higher level players yet.

OT: I'm actually surprised Na`Vi lost. They looked really good in the group and semi-finals while iG kinda flopped for a bit. Still, was very entertaining.
"That" level of skill? Are you in a competitive team?
I've been a stand-in for a few teams in Heroes of Newerth and DotA 1. None of the really big tournament matches though, nothing to get me famous (sadface!). I have played against big teams like MSI, SK Gaming, LOAD/EG and MILK though, held my own pretty well.

Except that one match when I went against Notail. And he had his Pollywog Priest. ABANDON LANE!