The world of eSports is growing. As interest grows in competitive gaming, so does the investment and sponsorship deals. The World Electronic Sports Games, or WESG, has backing of over $14.6 million from Alisports, and after an innovative worldwide audition process, the final events came to a close recently in China.
Thanks to the open auditions, the event saw tens of thousands of gamers competing for a shot at becoming champion. Alisports vision of making the WESG the Olympics of video games has been matched by the competitors pride at representing their home nation. The opening ceremony saw the players parade on to stage holding their respective countries flag. Over 200 countries and regions were part of the wider rounds of competition, and the final itself drew in a capacity crowd of 6000 supporters.
The games that were involved in the 2016 WESG finals event were: DOTA 2, Hearthstone, Starcraft II and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The winning teams and players taking away their share of an impressive $5.5 million prize pot.
The winners were:
- DOTA 2- Philippines- TNC (team)
- Hearth Stone- Philippines- Staz (solo)
- Starcraft II- South Korea- TY (solo)
- CS:GO- France- EnVyUs (team)
CEO of sponsors Alisports, Zhang Dazhong, gave the event 90 out of 100. He obviously feels this competition will only get bigger and better. He also disclosed that the next WESG will contain more events than this year, something which will open up the competition to a wider and wider audience.
With the success of eSports on the rise, and only this event and the World Cyber Games boasting to select their competitors from a global audience, the future looks bright for the WESG. With the inclusion of initiatives such as the anti-doping and Fair Play traditions of conventional sports, the eSports world is trying to become more mainstream and embody the “Spirit of Sport.” If it succeeds then the sky is the limit for events such as this.
You can catch more videos of the event here, and for all other news check back to Gamespresso.