ESports are rapidly gaining popularity around the world. And some cities are becoming centers of the new industry. Cyber athletes, esports tournaments organizers, and ESports fans are flocking there.
New York City
Since 2014, New York City has hosted ESL One Series tournaments in the most popular disciplines, including Dota 2 and CS:GO. The risk from Europe’s largest league has proved justified: the Big Apple is eagerly awaiting the next tournament to buy up all tickets in minutes and book tables in all neighborhood bars.
Shanghai
Shanghai has become the main center of modern China. It hosts world-class competitions more often than other Chinese cities. In 2016, the Mercedes-Benz Arena hosted a Major esports tournament in one of the most popular — Dota 2. Then the event was accompanied by scandals, but the developers of Dota Arena apparently liked it — next year the stadium will host the world championship The International.
Katowice
The Polish city is called the birthplace of Counter-Strike, home to some of the best shooters of the early 2010s, and home to some of the most formidable teams in the world. In early 2014, one of these teams, AGAiN, was signed by virtus.pro, a large Russian organization. Two months later, the guys won the world championship. The Polish city regularly hosts world-class events.
ESL One Katowice, Intel Challenge, and the comprehensive IEM — each esports tournament manages to draw a full stadium. In February, Katowice will host the Major, the world’s premier Counter-Strike championship, for the third time. Dota 2 is actively developing in the region; Team Kinguin and ESL One are good examples of that.
London
CS:GO esports tournaments authors have taken a fancy to London. The main city of the United Kingdom in 2018 held the World Championship, and a little earlier — the final of the fifth season of the Championship Series league.
Manila
No one thought Asians would be willing to fall in love with computer games for real. Valve’s unexpected decision to hold the Major in Manila turned out to be a great one; thousands of Dota 2 fans bought all the tickets long before the event started. Since then, Manila has become a major hub, with great clubs, talented young people, and world-class esports events; the Manila Masters, a year later, proved just that. Dota 2 remains the main discipline in the country.
Lima
Peru’s capital is another unexpectedly bright spot on the map. For Peruvians, eSports is more of a pleasure than a way to achieve world fame or recognition. Money and travel turn out to be a nice bonus, and the players themselves are used to having fun. The surprise for the people of Lima was The Final Match tournament.
Seattle
This is the office of the developers of computer games for the company Valve. At the same time, we should admit that the creators of Dota 2 and CS:GO managed to attract Seattle fans from all over the world.
In fact, the US city was hosting different esports events more than ten years ago — just take the World Cyber Games 2007 (something like the Cyber Olympics of that time). But the main event in the history of the city is still The International Dota 2 World Championship. Seattle has hosted it six times, becoming a true mecca for MOBA fans. During that time the city has become home to dozens of computer clubs and thousands of active gamers.
Bucharest
In the last few years, more than a dozen European and world events have taken place in Bucharest. Most of them are the tournaments of PGL, a company based in the Romanian capital. It is one of the most famous esports events operators at the moment, having held more than 40 different events for sportsmen in Bucharest and far beyond.
Interestingly, other organizations have also taken a fancy to Bucharest, with StarLadder or DreamHack events often taking place in the city, as well as various qualifications for tournaments with world championship status. Major events take place in the Romanian capital at least once a month.
This is a list of the best cities for major eSports tournaments. It can also be complemented by the Eastern European capitals (Kyiv, Minsk, and Moscow), which in recent years have also become organizers of major world tournaments.
