Valve has announced the next annual iteration of Dota 2 professional gaming competition "The International", which is the premier tournament for the free-to-play competitive game. The International 2014 will be held on July 18 in Seattle, Washington, and tickets go on sale this Friday for those who can make the trip.
The event will be held at Seattle's KeyArena, which has a capacity of around 17,000. The International tournaments offer some of the biggest prizes in competitive gaming, with the winning team Alliance taking home $1,437,190 in last year's competition.
If you can't make it to Seattle, the event will be broadcast live around the globe for free, with commentary in multiple languages.
For those who are interested in tickets, the four-day package costs $99 for general admission, $199 for floor seating and $499 for VIP level. They go on sale this Friday, April 4 at 3pm PST.
League of Legends was hugely successful with its last big live event, selling out the Staples Center in LA in about an hour. It remains to be seen how this particular event for Dota 2 will sell, but the game is popular enough to pull a crowd.
The International 2013 sold out its seats, but it was held in Seattle's Benaroya Hall, which has a capacity of only a few thousand. KeyArena is a good deal larger, but Valve presumably has information that assures picking a venue with such a jump in capacity would be justified--unless they're just very optimistic.
Tune in July 18 online or in person to see who takes home the crown, and check out Valve's documentary on Dota 2 players as they prepared for last year's competition.
Source: Eurogamer