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It's fairly safe to say that fighting games probably have the most mainstream appeal and popularity of spectator video games for the average viewer due to the overall readability of what's happening onscreen. A fighting game is pretty straightforward compared to something like a moba or even a fps. However, despite all of that the prize pool of fighting games have been peanuts compared to the other games. The International 11 (Dota 2) prize pool was 18 million dollars, down from the 40 million from the previous year, but nothing to sneeze at. By comparison last year's Evo (which is arguably the biggest tournament) the winner of Guilty Gear came away with $21,000. The Street Fighter winner got $13,000. So this jump to 1 million dollars is pretty big and might even force the hand of other companies to take their tournament prize pool more seriously otherwise everyone will just be playing SF6.

The Overwatch League is officially dead: Activision Blizzard is 'transitioning' away from its groundbreaking esports league as teams reportedly vote to withdraw | PC Gamer WWW.PCGAMER.COM Competitive Overwatch may return, but not in its current form.

Not sure where to properly post this and I'm sure I'll be shown where but I wanted to ask you guys/gals if you have any experience with eBikes at all. Not sure how or why I got web surfed late at night on the 16th {July} to some ebike forums on Reddit and while spiraling down the eBike rabbit hole accidently bought a Luna Tarlaria Sting R eBike...lol OOOOPS, still haven't brought this up to the wife, not that I'm hiding it at all, just timing doesn't quite feel right Anyway I did just buy here some flowers and some really quite expensive {OVER 2k} Ruby heart shaped earrings {NOT because of the eBike}, and she even asked "WHAT DID YOU DO" . Really excited to check this thing out, and also a bit nervous. I stopped riding over 7 years ago. Sold by Harley and both my Dirt bikes because they weren't getting any ride time after I blew my back out. 3 surgeries later I just have not been the same and deal with quite a bit of chronic pain. I saw these though and thought I could get this and putt putt around {PUTT AROUND...lol Yea right These are quick with a 50+ mileage range and top speed of near 50mph} Anyway, looks like it's going to be here by monday, maybe even saturday. Any experience and / or thoughts?

Yo, fuck Zero KBR is still the GOAT But Mahvel is dead.

I held off on making this topic because few of you care. But they had a new format this year, the final games get their own weekend (probably a good change) making it easier to digest, probably easier on the players as well. This year the final four teams consist of 3 European teams and 1 Chinese team. Team Liquid and Secret, while considered good teams, have fought their way from last chance qualifiers (they did not do well enough in the season to get an invite to TI) all the way to the final weekend which is pretty special. Team Secret has the distinction of having Puppey on their team, the first TI winner and has been to every TI. While Team Liquid has Matumbaman a former TI winner (TI7) who says he will be retiring after this year's TI. Meanwhile Aster and Tundra also while strong teams, seemed like unlikely choices to make it to the final four but both are looking strong, Tundra in particular. Games will start after everyone's bedtime since it is in Singapore but you can always watch the VOD later.

Bots have been fueling the vision control. what next?

Originally scheduled for last year but delayed due to COVID, and then denied by the original country it was supposed to be held in, Sweden, The International will finally take place on the 7th from Bucharest, Romania. The prize pool is $40 million dollars. The winning team gets $18 million dollars the last place team gets a lousy $100,000. The schedule is below https://www.dota2.com/esports/ti10/schedule The twitch stream should have the nice interactive overlays for people https://www.twitch.tv/dota2ti And that's all I have to give you since like 1 other person around here cares about this.

https://www.twitch.tv/evo

)Max is hosting another tournament (He previously hosted the Killer Instinct Tournament and the Marvel vs Capcom 3 tournament) this time he's bringing back MKX!

File this one under seems like it was inevitable but they held out an announcement for a pretty long time So you can work on the battle pass for a whole year now!

I know that none of you care but I've been watching the DOTA 2 (Saying it up front so you can check out of the thread right now) AniMajor tournament (Taking place in Kyiv) and it's been fun to watch, but also the production of the tournament has been pretty impressive as well. It's somewhat disheartening there could be no audience there to watch. Today is the last day of the tournament. The lower bracket final is between T1 (Southeast Asia Team) and Evil Geniuses (North American Team) and the winner will face PSG.LGD (Chinese team) in the grand final. Peak viewership has been at 580,000 and they are trying to break records so make sure you give it a look even if ever so briefly. 👀

If you were unaware (and I'm sure you were) back in November Max was able to partner up with Twitch Rivals to revive Marvel vs Capcom 3 and they held an online tournament that was actually pretty hype. Even Yipes and Steve were calling the game. So it looks like they're going to do it again this time for Killer Instinct. KI is pretty fun to watch so be sure to tune in if you're interested!

And Max explains how this is going to be terrible

You can't make this shit up We live in strange, strange times. IGN has a little more Info

We live in strange times EDIT: Updated the title to reflect @Bacon's post

That's right folks. The International 9 starts today. Group stages run through the 15-18 and the main event begins on the 20 - 25. As of posting the prize pool is at $32,946,540 - The first place team is guaranteed to win nearly 15 million dollars. Even the last place teams will get $80,000 Q: What is The International? A: The International is the name of an esports tournament hosted by Valve for their very popular game DOTA 2. 18 teams are in this year's tournament, only one will emerge victorious. List of 18 teams in spoiler tag: Q: Why should I care? A: TI is basically the Super Bowl of esports featuring the best DOTA players in the world. EVO, while large is more like the world series. TI is much more of a spectacle and also has the largest prize pool in esports. Q: I have no idea what this game is and how it's played and I'll be unable to follow it. A: Valve recognizes that not only is DOTA an intimidating game to learn how to play it is probably just as hard to watch. They have tried to quell these fears by introducing folks to the "Newcomer Stream" where the casters will routinely explain game mechanics, items and how to play the game to the audience and it also has informational overlays to make it easier to watch. As any sport jumping in my be confusing at first, people still aren't even sure how NFL football is played but they still watch it. In any case you can watch the newcomer stream HERE Q: I might watch but I want to see what all this nonsense is before I commit A: You should probably watch this well produced video (at least part of it) about last year's champions, OG. It humanizes the game as well as explains a lot of what I posted ITT Q: esports suck A: Well, you can continue to not post in this thread like you did last year. With all of that out of the way, here is the main TI stream (most likely the main event will be on this one) but there are 4 other streams as well Now for the bad news, since the tournament is being played in China this year most of you will be asleep or at work while the games are being played. For instance tonight (which is the 15th in China) games start at 6PM pst and will run through the night the last series wrapping up at 4AM pst. The good(ish) news is the main event finals would be running on Saturday at 7PM pst so most people can catch that if they are willing to stay up on a Saturday night. If there's anything else I can do for you just holla

https://kotaku.com/blizzard-suspends-hearthstone-player-for-hong-kong-supp-1838864961

https://multistre.am/capcomfighters/evo1/evo2/evo3/evo/layout14/ Looks like SFV has fallen off, not the main event on the last day. That's saved for Smash, which means I won't be disappointed if I don't see it. Also, special shout out to @GameDadGrant when I mentioned Under Night a year ago and he said, "nah" and look it's at Evo.

https://old.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/cg6gua/geoff_incontrol_robinson_has_passed_away/ Genna Bain's tweet was upsetting.

I'll be damned, they're trying to do esports now.

I think the "traditional" eSports genres like fighting games and LoL/Dota 2 will be fine, but newcomers like the Overwatch League will be toast. “I feel like esports is almost running a Ponzi scheme at this point,” Frank Fields, Corsair’s sponsorship manager, told an audience at San Francisco’s Game Developers Conference last March. He smirked. The crowd laughed uncomfortably. The smile dropped from Fields’ face as he continued. “Everyone I talk to in this industry kind of acknowledges the fact that there is value in esports, but it is not nearly the value that is getting hyped these days.” Later, Fields would clarify that this value, and future value, “as of now, is optimistic at best and fraudulent at worst.”

https://www.siliconera.com/2019/03/07/konami-aims-high-with-esports-dedicated-center-in-ginza-tokyo/

Anyone Going to PAX South this Year. I promise if you are I will try to meet up. I will be going Sat and Sun. PAX South is in San Antoinio this weekend starting today.