Gaming Paradise's $50,000 CS:GO tournament will consist of eight teams, HLTV.org has learned.

At the end of March, the CS:GO community was surprised to read the news about a brand new e-sports festival called The Gaming Paradise, to be held from September 6-13 in Portorož, located in southwestern Slovenia.

With very few details about the organisers of The Gaming Paradise being revealed at the time, the community remained skeptical about the authenticity of the event, which offered an exciting range of activities to players and spectators alike, including concerts, parties and a gaming exhibition.

Contacted by HLTV.org, the tourist office of Portorož confirmed the legitimacy of the event and added that its organisers are in touch with the Slovenian municipality of Piran.

HLTV.org has also learned that the company hired to run the CS:GO and Dota 2 tournaments - both with $50,000 on offer- is Gaming.rs, which consists of former staff members of E-Frag.net, including former CEO Petar "Peca" Markovic.



The closed qualifier will be held at a Slovenian villa

Eight teams will be taking part in the CS:GO tournament, with six of them being invited by the event organisers, while two will come from offline qualifiers. All participants will get full travel support for the event and will be staying at five-star apartments located at Portorož's marina residence.

Several top teams have already expressed an interest in attending the event, with the list of invitations due to be released in the coming days.

The first offline qualifier will be open to all teams and is scheduled to take place in Belgrade from May 28-31. To sign up for this event, which has an entry fee of €30, teams can go here. The second qualifier will be reserved for four invited teams and will be held at a villa located near the Slovenian seaside from June 19-21.

The $50,000 prize purse will be distributed between the top three teams as follows:

1. - $30,000

2. - $15,000

3. - $5,000

For more information about The Gaming Paradise, head over to the festival's website.