For the first time, Global Electronic Sports Championship (GESC), a leading eSports brand in Asia, is bringing an Official Valve Corporation-sanctioned Dota 2 Pro Circuit Minor to Thailand from 9 to 12 May 2018. Staged in Bangkok, the tournament will run over 4 days, culminating in a thrilling 2-day Playoffs LIVE at Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre (BITEC), Hall 106. The high-energy eSport event is the very first in Thailand to be sanctioned by Valve and has the biggest prize purse in the country, at around THB 9,350,000 (USD 300,000) as well as Dota Pro Circuit qualifying (DPC) points to the prestigious world Dota 2 Championships, The International 2018.
Defense of the Ancients (Dota 2) is nothing short of an eSport cultural phenomenon. The subtleties and complexity of the game have led many to compare mastering it with learning a new language. In Southeast Asia, one of the most active regions in the world for eSports, Dota 2 has 3.8 million players, with 720,000 active players in Thailand alone. There are several prominent players in the region, including some notable up-and-coming players and casters in Thailand.
Oskar Feng, Chief Executive Officer of GESC said: "This first Valve-sanctioned event in Thailand comes hot on the heels of the Dota 2 Pro Circuit Minor in Indonesia in March 2018, which sold out in just 72 hours and achieved 29 million viewers globally. We have high expectations for an equally successful Thai event, drawing over 6,000participants daily ready for high-energy entertainment from talents including Team Secret, winners of DreamLeague Season 8 and The Shanghai Major 2016. We're excited to be offering a prize pool of around THB9,350,000 (USD300,000)."
GESC Thailand Dota 2 Pro Circuit Minor is truly international and will feature eight best teams in the world, including one directly-invited team (Team Secret), six teams from regional qualifiers (China, Southeast Asia, North America, South America, Commonwealth of Independent States, and Europe) and as part of GESC's commitment to the development of the eSports and Dota 2 scene in the country, a special 'Wild Card' spot has been created for Thailand. A Thai team will have the opportunity to represent the country at the tournament and the once in a lifetime chance to play on a truly global stage. Registration for the Thai qualifier is open from now to 3 April at 12.00pm to any Dota 2 teams based in Thailand, consisting of a minimum of three Thai nationals.
The Thailand Wild Card Open Qualifiers will be hosted on FACEIT from 4 to 5 April 2018 (Wednesday and Thursday). The top four teams of the Open Qualifiers will compete with four directly-invited teams from Thailand - Alpha Red, Alpha Blue, Hashtag Dota and Neolution eSport - in a Closed Qualifier Group Stage from 6 to 8 April 2018 (Friday to Sunday) with Playoffs on 22 April 2018, Sunday.
The winning team will receive USD 110,000 plus 150 DPC points, second place will receive prize money of USD 65,000 plus 90 DPC points and the third placed team will receive USD 45,000 plus 30 DPC points. The fourth placed team will receive prize money of USD 35,000, the fifth and sixth places receive USD 17,500 whilst the seventh and eighth places receive USD 10,000.
Tickets go on sale from Wednesday 28 March at 12:00pm and are THB 1,650 for Early Bird VIP (including access to team autograph signing sessions, a goodie bag and seats in the team walk-in area) and THB 650 for Early Bird Regular. Early bird prices are only available on the first 500 tickets from each category. Normal ticket prices for VIP Tickets are THB 2,500 and Regular Tickets are THB 1,000. To purchase, please go to http://bit.ly/GESCThailandTickets.
GESC Thailand Dota 2 Minor is supported by Neolution E-Sport Co.,Ltd, which will live-stream upcoming qualifiers as well as the four day tournament in Thai on Twitch. English Live streams are available on Twitch, Youtube, Facebook and Twitter.
For more information on registering for the qualifiers, please visit official website www.geschampionship.com or Facebook page at www.facebook.com/GESChampionshipTH.
About GESC
The Global Electronic Sports Championship (GESC) is a Singapore-based eSports property that aims to become the leading eSports brand in Asia. GESC's founding team has over 40 years of experience producing world-class sports and entertainment events, combined with unrivalled production experience. Building deep eSports expertise and partnerships, GESC ensures that GESC does not produce simply eSports tournaments, but truly defining entertainment events. Please visit official website www.geschampionship.com.