Legendary Studios, Universal Pictures, to sponsor EPICENTER
eSports is about to get a taste of Hollywood. EPICENTER: Moscow, the next premier Dota 2 tournament in Russia, has officially partnered up with Hollywood big shots Legendary Studios and Universal Pictures. EPICENTER features a whopping $500,000 prize pool and will take place in the beautiful 7,500 capacity Crocus City Hall and will take place from May 9-15. Eight of the top Dota 2 teams (which include Shanghai Major champion Team Secret and high-profile American side Evil Geniuses) will be vying for top honors in EPICENTER’s maiden run. The tournament is organized by Epic Esports Events, a part of ESforce Holding (formerly the Virtus.pro Group).
The EPICENTER Finals will feature a special presentation from Legendary and Universal Pictures. Exclusive footage from the upcoming epic fantasy film Warcraft will be shown to those present at the Crocus City Hall. Warcraft is based on the video game series of the same name from multi-billion dollar company Blizzard Entertainment. Dota 2’s predecessor, Dota All-Stars, is actually a custom map for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos so the fans are in for a treat. Director Duncan Jones looks to bring Azeroth to life and give Dota 2 fans a sneak peak of the movie before it’s worldwide release on June 10, 2016.
ESforce Holding aims to be the main face of professional gaming in Eastern Europe. Owner and CEO of ESforce Holding, Anton Cherepennikov says that EPICENTER: Moscow is just a taste of things to come as the company is also building an eSports arena which hopes to be the biggest in Russia and one of the biggest in the world. Alisher Usmanov, who also owns one of England’s top football clubs Arsenal, notably invested $100 million in the company last year. Usmanov has a knack for knowing where to put his money as he has also invested in social media giant Facebook as well as the world’s largest eCommerce site in Alibaba. eSports continues to grow and the investors are starting to take notice.
READ:Alibaba, World’s Largest Ecommerce Site, Enters eSports
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