Dota 2: UK Major Tournament To 'inspire' Fans

Image copyright ESL/KelyKline

Britain's first-ever Dota 2 major tournament wants to "offer inspiration" to UK fans, organisers say.

The event, being held in Birmingham this weekend, see teams from across the world compete for a $1m (£750,000) prize pool.

There are only a few top level British players of the game, but tickets for the event sold out in 24 hours.

James Dean, from event organiser ESL, says: "We're hoping the major will offer inspiration to the UK community."

He hopes that seeing the world's best players up close and personal will help drive more UK-based players to compete at the top level.

He told Newsbeat: "If there was a full UK team on the roster, the event would have more of a significant impact and that is an exciting prospect.

"On the international scene there are very few PC teams in e-sports that are British, but that is slowly changing.

"We're finding that UK-based players are getting there, but not a full British team yet."

Console-based games like Call of Duty, FIFA and Halo have more British representation at top tier esports events.

British team Splyce reached the final of the Call of Duty World League in 2016 for example.

James says that ESL is working to grow the UK's esports scene for console and PC gamers.

Hosting major events like this is a key part of their strategy.

James says: "This really marks a big achievement for the UK.

"We finally bought an ESL One, of the biggest events that the ESL hosts across the globe, here."

He says the event will have a "significant impact around the world" because it's a major tournament backed by Valve - the makers of the game.

"We also put it up in the midlands rather than the usual location, which is London."

This major is a qualifying tournament for Dota 2's biggest event called The International.

That is often called the biggest e-sports event in the world with a prize pool of $24m (around £18.5m).

The online battle arena game is one of the most popular in the world with millions of players worldwide.

It is considered one of the big three esports alongside League of Legends and CS:GO.

Some of the tournament's action, which started on Friday, will be shown on BBC Three's channel on the iPlayer.

You can watch it here.

Follow Newsbeat on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 every weekday on BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra - if you miss us you can listen back here.