Two of esports’ biggest tournament organizers are joining together for a set of international leagues across three different games, culminating in a massive stadium final.
ImbaTV of China and Ukrainian outfit StarLadder have announced a partnership for a series of leagues in Dota 2, Counter-Strike and Hearthstone for a combined $550,000 prize pool.
The SL i-League StarSeries will take in players from around the world in regional divisions, with the finalists advancing to the grand finals. Those will be held in the 15,000 capacity Minsk Arena in Belarus, with 12 Dota 2 teams, eight Counter-Strike teams and eight Hearthstone players getting the chance to play there.
In keeping with the international nature of the event, all matches will be broadcast in 14 languages, with English, Russian and Chinese streams managed in house.
Imba is one of China’s biggest esports production and broadcasting companies, with its own massive leagues and the rights to major international events like The International and over 100 million total views. StarLadder, meanwhile, is one of the driving forces behind esports in the CIS region, with a strong track record in online and offline events.
These two are major players in their respective regions, and if this partnership works we could see one of the first truly global event organizers in esports.
Photo via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)
