The world-class esports championship The International Dota2 Championships 2019, also known as TI9, launched in Shanghai on Tuesday, August 20.
As one of the world's top esports championships, TI9 boasts a 33 million USD prize pool (by the end of the opening ceremony), 45.5 percent of which will be awarded to the final winner. The stunning prize award marks the world's highest in esports championships, even outnumbers the prize money of the World Cup in real-life sports.
Sixteen teams were entitled to the six-day-long fierce competition in Shanghai TI9 after rounds of qualification. Four Chinese teams, namely VG, PSG.LGD, KG, and RNG, will be competing with international giants VP, Alliance, TNC, NIP etc.
The opening game was between Chinese team PSG.LGD and VP, and ended with a 2-0 winning of PSG.LGD.
Gabe Newell, co-founder of Valve, speaks to the players and audiences. /Photo from the Perfect World.
The Perfect World, a game and media production group who delegates the Dota2 and CS:GO in China, has cooperated with Dota2's maker Valve and conducted the TI9 for the first time.
However, The Perfect World has a long history with Dota2, esports and video gaming in general. They have hosted the Dota2 Asian Championships for 3 times and the "Supermajors" as well. They also introduced Valve's PC gaming platform "Steam" to China and its significant market of gamers.
In 2018, the then deputy mayor of Shanghai, Weng Tiehui, announced that Shanghai will host the TI9 with full enthusiasm in a media promotion video released during TI8 in Vancouver, Canada. Since then, Shanghai municipal government seized the opportunity and set the goal of making Shanghai "the world esports hub" in its city development plan.
In early 2019, the F1 esports championships has landed in Shanghai to enter Chinese market. The municipal city's esports bureau officially acknowledged the athletic title and levels of esports players.