Chinese gamers win US$5m top prize in international video game tournament

A team of gamers from China has won US$5 million after emerging victorious at an international video games tournament in the United States.

The International Dota 2 Championships 2014, an annual electronic sports (eSports) event, concluded on Monday after the five young men beat their opponents – also from China – 3 to 1 in the final to take home one of the biggest prize in video gaming history.

The victory helped the members of the Newbee team, whose name means “f**king awesome” in Chinese, secure US$1 million each in prize money.

The tournament of multiplayer online battle game Dota 2 was hosted by video games publisher Valve Corporation. The total prize pool of US$10.9 million, up from last year’s US$2.9 million, is the largest in eSports history and twice that offered by the 2013 US Open Tennis Championships.

The four-day tournament at Seattle’s Key Arena was dominated by teams from China. Chinese teams made up five of the final eight and pocketed US$8.5 million out of the total prize pool.