Where has the time gone? It feels like just yesterday I was being told I wasn’t allowed to go to work in March 2020, with all the pubs and restaurants being closed in the UK for the first time. Fast forward to today and we’re now currently in October 2021, seriously, where has the time gone? I’ve barely done ANYTHING in the last year and a half but that time has just vanished. I say this because we’re in the run up to Christmas 2021 at this point, plans are beginning and some of us are planning our first vacations in what is pretty much 18 months at this point.
So! How better to spend some of that vacation than in an arena with many like minded Esports lovers? It was announced in May earlier this year by the Global Esports Federation that Singapore will be hosting the inaugural Global Esports Games in December this year (just round the corner now!), hosting over 400 international Esports athletes from 80+ countries and regions across the world! The Global Esports Federation said in a press release that the Global Esports Games will be held yearly, likely in December and will feature multiple titles for Esports competitions, with the Singapore Esports Association winning the battle for the rights to host and run the Global Esports Games.
It’s no secret that Esports is huge, let alone in Asia. With stadiums being packed out frequently. This picture is the 2018 League of Legends World Championship.
So, what games will feature at the inaugural Global Esports Games? There are 3 different games that we’ll be seeing featured, with multiple different tournaments for each game. 2 of these games I actually enjoy watching personally, the other I’ve never actually taken the time to watch. We’ll break it down game by game with a little bit of info about each, so if you’re ready, let’s get down to it!
First up, we have DOTA 2, by Valve. DOTA 2 is one of the biggest Esports in the world, it has been ongoing since 2011 and regularly features some of the BIGGEST prize pools in the world, starting with the very first Invitational, where the prize pool was $1.6million, way back in 2011, which back then was, and realistically still is, a huge amount of money for playing games, however somewhere along the way they added crowdfunding to the prize pool, the last invitational from 2019 (2020 was cancelled) had a total prize pool of $34million, this year’s international? $40million. The winning team taking home a cool $18.2million, outrageous! The 2 formats we will see for DOTA 2 at the Global Esports Games are, open category, 4 teams, 5 v 5 and an all-women’s 4 team 5 v 5 tournament, the competition is sure to be fierce with the very first Global Esports Games title on the line!
Street Fighter is still one of the most-watched Esports in the world, to this day!
Next, we have Street Fighter 5, Championship Edition. While Street Fighter doesn’t necessarily have the huge prize pools that DOTA does, it’s safe to say that Street Fighter is one of the OG’s of the Esports scene, dating all the way back to 1987. Back then Street Fighter was “just” an arcade game, but it has ALWAYS been a popular title, even for people who aren’t fighting game fans, watching people at the top of their craft is always a spectacle. Because let’s face it, we’ve ALL played a fighting game and we ALL think we’re good at them, until you watch somebody who is ACTUALLY good at them, right? Watching high speed high impact combos done with perfection is just something else. The format for Street Fighter 5 is a 1v1 tournament with 64 players invited to the tournament and it will surely bring some excitement!
Finally we have eFootball, otherwise known as Pro Evolution Soccer, specifically. Pro Evo 2021, now I’ve personally never been into competitive football games, I’ve watched a small amount of FIFA but never REALLY got into it, again in terms of prize money it isn’t really anything special, but $15k for winning in a football game is nothing to turn your nose up at and theoretically, Football is the biggest spectator sport in the world so, it makes sense right? But anyway, the format for Pro Evo is a 1v1 64 player tournament again. If nothing else it’s something different for people to watch, something that people might not otherwise be interested in, right? One thing to note however is when there’s a crossover between sports fans and gaming fans you tend to get an increase in gambling, so it may be worth looking at an odds converter to see if you can get yourself ahead of the game and make a little bit of money using your Esports knowledge. I tend to do the same for Rocket League.
That’ll do us for today! Are you excited for the inaugural Global Esports Games? Do you still think Esports is a waste of time or are you getting into the idea of competitive gaming being on the big screens more frequently? I for one LOVE Esports, specifically Rocket League, Smite and CS:GO. It would be interesting to see if moving forward they expand the Global Esports Games from being a weekend event to being a full week thing featuring more games. Why not eh? Let us know what you think about the situation!
