The future of eSports is anyone's guess, but an educated guess says it's a bright one. While nowhere near approaching the player count of something like League of Legends, eSports players know that Dota 2 is where the big money is paid out. The latest illustration of this appeal is the demographic breakdown of Dota 2's upcoming Kiev Major.
The Kiev Major is one of four annual tournaments in Dota 2's Major series, each of which pay out $3 million in prize pools. This year, 25 different countries will be represented by at least one player in any of the 16 teams in the Kiev Major.
Of course, the bulk of the 80 players participating are going to be from China, as Moba games and eSports in general have always had a bigger Chinese presence, and Chinese teams are commonly all represented by Chinese players, where as European and American teams tend to be more diverse.
All in all, though, three Chinese teams were given a direct invite to the Kiev Major, and two more qualified.
This major also includes an all-Greek team, which is a bit of an oddity when it comes to eSports. The country is not usually represented, but it will be this year by the five players, formerly of Ad Finem, who made such a big splash at the Boston Major, placing second. While they haven't done much since, their success was enough to warrant another invite to the Kiev Major. After not renewing their contracts with Ad Finem, the five Greeks roll into Kiev as free agents, with Verros Apostolos (MaybeNextTime) jokingly asking his followers if they should be called "Team Souvlaki."
Only in Dota 2.
With appeal this widespread (and it's even more widespread considering all the countries that tried) but ultimately failed to qualify), and the tens of millions of dollars paid out in prize pools each year, it's safe to say there will be people lining up to play Dota 2 for years to come.
