$5 million USD up for grabs, folks.
In “DOTA 2 is getting taken pretty seriously by the outside world” news, Valve has announced that The International 4 will be broadcast live through ESPN3. Okay, yes, it’s not the super duper main ESPN channel, but that’s still a major US sports network looking at a videogame tournament and saying “yes, that’s something we want to screen live.”
This year’s International DOTA 2 tournament will take place in Seattle’s KeyArena from 18 July through 22 July.
As well as live coverage on ESPN3, there will apparently be a special preview show prior to the event’s final on ESPN2. That’ll air on Sunday at 8.30pm (Pacific Time, obv) and feature highlights of previous matches, interviews with some of the players and an appearance by Valve’s cuddly overlord, Gabe Newell.
If, like me, you don’t have the right type of cable/internet package to be able to watch ESPN3, or you live outside the US like quite a lot of people do, the whole shebang will still be available for viewing through Valve’s own International site.
“From the success of the Compendium to the collaboration with ESPN, this year’s International really demonstrates how much competitive gaming has grown to rival traditional sports,”said Valve’s Erik Johnson to a nearby employee, who transcribed it to the press release I got this quote from.
