Red Bull has long treated StarCraft fans to unique and compelling competition. Now Dota 2 is getting its “wings,” thanks to a new venture from the energy drink brand.
The Red Bull Battlegrounds will bring its “battle” format to the genre-defining title in 2015 before beginning its StarCraft 2 circuit this Fall. The format promises to deliver action different from what Dota fans have seen in the game’s short but storied history.
The competition will feature a baseline prize pool of $75,000—the term “baseline” strongly suggesting crowdfunding opportunities to come. While the start date of the competition is yet unknown, Red Bull has pinned down a May 10 finale in San Francisco as the culmination of several weeks of play.
Each week, 20 total professional teams from China, North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, and the former Soviet Union will engage in online “battles” to determine the finalists for the finale in California. In each battle, participants will start with three “lives” and one opportunity to select its opponent. Each loss will eliminate a single life from a team’s pool until all three have been expended. The two teams left standing from each region will meet once more in San Francisco at the series finale at the Warfield Theater.
Preceding the LAN final, Red Bull will hold its frenetic Red Bull LAN pro-am in San Jose. Casual players will play pickup games with seasoned professionals, with the best overall player garnering kudos at the conclusion of the event.
While the Red Bull LAN will certainly create some memories, the professional competition will undoubtedly test seasoned teams with an extra layer of strategy. Red Bull’s battle format has been lauded by StarCraft fans for creating compelling action, and Dota fans can expect the same when the games begin.
