- Hype for the World Electronic Sports Games 2018-2019, which starts U.S. qualifiers in September, has already begun
- More than 65,000 gamers are expected to compete for the right to represent their countries this year in DOTA2, StarCraft II, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (male and female divisions), Hearthstone (male and female), Vainglory (a mobile MOBA) and Pro Evolution Soccer.
The World Electronic Sports Games announcement this week in Kuala Lumpur.
Hype for the World Electronic Sports Games 2018-2019, which starts U.S. qualifiers in September, has already begun.
The competition is unusual in the esports arena because it requires teams to be all of one nationality and includes significant female competition, albeit in separate matches. Last year’s competition drew gamers from 126 regions and countries.
More than 65,000 gamers are expected to compete for the right to represent their countries this year in DOTA2, StarCraft II, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (male and female divisions), Hearthstone (male and female), Vainglory (a mobile MOBA) and Pro Evolution Soccer.
WESG is run by Alisports, a division of Chinese media giant Alibaba, but the global winners are far from the Far East domination you would expect. The 2017-2018 competitions just wrapped up in March, and winners included China and South Korea; but also teams from Sweden, Russia and Turkey. This is the third year of the competition.
This year’s competition has 206 eligible countries and will include 25 regional competitions.
For the first time, WESG preliminaries in the United States and Canada will be hosted by WorldGaming Network in September through November. The U.S. finals will be held at the Santa Anita Park racetrack in Los Angeles in mid-November by WorldGaming and The Stronach Group, while the Canadian finals will take place Oct. 26-28 at the Enthusiast Gaming Live Expo (EGLX) at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
Registration for U.S. and Canadian play has not yet begun; so far only the Southeast Asia region has begun taking signups. The WESG finals will be held in China next March.
I’ve covered gaming for more than two decades, and I cover PC games, VR games and Blizzard eSports for Forbes. Sign up for email alerts when my stories run. Follow me @gbitses.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/hnewman/2018/06/30/six-games-5-5m-65000-players-one-olympic-style-esports-tournament/#3bdf7e2b6a60
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