Along with the prize pool of INR 10 lakhs, five of the professional players (one best player from each team and the rest of the individuals) will have their profiles featured on Mountain Dew bottles
After a nine-week long battle of apparently 75,000 participants from across the country, the Dew Arena Gaming Championship saw an impressive finale. 26 finalists including teams and individuals displayed all their skills and tricks to take away a total prize pool of INR 10 lakhs. The games included CS: GO, Dota 2, FIFA 16, Forza Motorsport 6 and Street Fighter IV.
Announced back in June, the championship began on July 15, witnessing more than three times the expected number of participants. We had spoken to a few people at the launch, who gave their thoughts about the future of gaming in India and gaming events. The finale was held in a closed auditorium with big LED wall setups. Among the games, CS: GO, Dota 2 and FIFA 16 attracted most of the crowd, the first two clearly being the most popular games. The Dew Arena gaming truck that we got a chance to check out earlier was also showcased at the event which went around 25 cities around the country.
Each and every game had a ‘best of three’ format, where we believe Street Fighter IV should have had a ‘best of five format’ considering one round lasted for only 90 seconds. The finals for the popular competitive fighter gamer finished in a blink where Syed Ahmad Kamal from Aligarh finished off his opponent 2-0. Forza Motorsport 6 saw another 2-0 clear victory by Khyat Kanda who drove cautiously with minimal impacts. Throughout the FIFA 16 matches, the crowd went crazy as we got to see some impressive gameplay, tackles, goals and saves. Mohammad Farhan, the winner, also managed to score a last minute winner that came out of nowhere.
The biggest games for the day, CS: GO and Dota 2, brought in most of the crowd. It was difficult to judge which game was more popular since every killing spree and clutch got almost the same cheers. Invisible Wings took on Team Brutality in the finals of CS: GO, and we have to say that these two teams are the best you’ll see in CS: GO in the Indian esports scene. All the three rounds were played, Invisible Wings coming out victorious. The finals of Dota 2 was played between Beyond Infinity and Invisible Wings, where we witnessed multiple double kills and one or two rampages, but at the end, Invisible Wings won.
The event also included a cosplay competition, where we saw impressive cosplays. Months of hard work were clearly visible on the detailing in few of the costumes. Iron Wolverine had the most interesting one and was declared the winner.
Overall, the event was fun to attend, experiencing glitches in the audio department with minimal bugs and crashes while the games were underway. Esport events around the world attract huge crowds set in massive arenas giving both an incredible audio and visual experience, and we look forward to having something of those levels in India soon.
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Abhijit Dey
A Star Wars fan and sci-fi enthusiast. When I'm not playing games on my PC, I usually lurk around the Internet, mostly on Reddit. View Full Profile
