ONE Esports chief executive officer Carlos Alimurung (second from left) announces Dota 2 Singapore major tournament in June 2020. (PHOTO: Bryan Huang/Yahoo News Singapore)

SINGAPORE — Singapore will play host to some of the best Dota 2 teams in the world, when it holds the first Singapore Major in June next year at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Announced on Wednesday (18 December), the ONE Esports Singapore Major – with a prize pool of US$1 million (S$1.36 million) will be organised by ONE Esports with the support of PGL and the Singapore Tourism Board.

A Dota 2 Major allows participating teams to earn Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) points, which will be tabulated at the end of the season in June.

The calendar period for the DPC’s last major is from 20 to 28 June.

The top teams with the most DPC points will earn invitations to Dota 2’s most prestigious annual tournament – The International (TI), which held its ninth edition in Stockholm in August this year.

The prize pool for TI9 was over US$33 million (S$44.8 million). OG made history by winning back-to-back TIs this year, and also claimed US$15 million from the pool.

As the last major of the season, the Singapore Major could be the deciding factor for which Dota 2 teams will make it to The International 2020.

The news comes two days after the Global Esports Federation was launched in Singapore, and a week after esports concluded its inaugural competition at the SEA Games 2019 in the Philippines.

ONE Esports chief executive officer Carlos Alimurung, who made the announcement, also teased more events in the coming year involving other games.

In what is a likely preview of the Singapore major, ONE Esports is holding its Dota 2 invitational in Singapore this weekend at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, an event which will see top tier teams like Team Secret and PSG.LGD competing for a US$500,000 prize pool.





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