It seems like eSports really are gaining a lot of traction.
Valve has just confirmed that they have sold out all 10,000 tickets for its 2014 Dota 2 International Championship, both general admission and VIP. The event takes place at Seattle’s Key Arena stadium on July 18-21.
“Tickets were gone roughly one hour after they went on sale,” Valve’s Doug Lombardi told onGamers. It has not been confirmed if another wave of tickets will be put on sale.
Scalpers have taken to eBay, selling tickets for upwards of $500 for a general admission ticket. General Admission tickets were originally $99, floor seats at $199, and a VIP package priced at $499.
This is not the first esports event to sell out at this rate. Last year’s League of Legend’s Season 3 World Championships at the Los Angeles Staples Center also sold out in an hour. This has come to rival sports and music events.
For this year’s International Event, there will be a change as to how qualifiers and direct invites will work. 11 teams will receive invites directly, while there will be four Regional Qualifiers taking place from May 12th through the 25th. The winner of each qualifier receives an invitation to the International Championship, while the four runner-ups will compete in Seattle for the final spot.
As eSports continue to grow, we will likely see bigger and bigger events selling out in mere hours like this. The gaming community seems to have gone beyond just playing games; now we also love to watch other people play as well. The ability to watching recordings of other players was even a selling point for the PS4 and Xbox One. Both systems promised a way to record and instantly upload our gaming footage online. Valve’s International Championship selling out like it did shows that our love for gaming is evolving. ESports show that we don’t just love to play games, but like other types of sports, we love to watch them.
