SEATTLE—You know an e-sports event has made it when a crowd's patriotic chants swell into the tens of thousands. But the bigger surprise at this week's The International, currently the largest annual Dota 2 gaming tournament, was that those cries weren't loudest for the usual e-sports titans like Korea or China. This week, capacity crowds celebrated an American squad.
On Wednesday night of The International 2015’s main event, I was squeezed into the giant Key Arena crowd watching EHOME—a Chinese legacy team—duke it out with Evil Geniuses—the only North American squad ever to crack the top three at this Dota 2 championship. I was surrounded by streamers, team community managers, members of the press, and a few rowdy friends. A Chinese Dota 2 reporter sat beside me, cheering on each EHOME play with heavily accented English expletives.
EHOME slotted snugly into the middle of the packed and stacked Chinese squads (including popular teams like LGD) who had torn through The International's bracket, and the team’s every kill, escape, and feint prompted chants of “EHOME! EHOME!” from the Asian attendees, including my potty-mouthed neighbor. China has dominated the game’s competitive scene year after year, and that streak largely continued at this year's International. Chinese teams occupied two-thirds of the top six placing teams (each of which claimed more than a million dollars from the tournament’s $18 million prize pool).
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