Valve decided to show off its upcoming game DOTA 2 in a rather unique way; by holding a pro tournament with 16 teams from around the world competing in the upcoming fantasy action-RTS game. On Sunday, the final matches were held and Na"Vi, a six man team based in Ukraine, defeated the China-based team EHOME to win the tournament. This competition was held over the past four days at the Gamescom event in Germany.
Na"Vi won the grand prize of $1 million in their championship quest while the EHOME team picked up a not-too-shabby runner up prize of $250,000. Indeed the top eight teams in the 16 team tournament shared a $1.6 million prize pool. Valve picked the best Defense of the Ancients teams from around the world to participate in the DOTA 2 tournament which is a sequel-remake of the popular Warcraft III mod.
While the tournament is now over, Valve still has plans for DOTA 2. It still intends to start closed beta testing for the game via Steam sometime later this fall followed by a period of open beta testing before DOTA 2 is officially launched. While Valve has said in previous press releases that DOTA 2 is scheduled to be launched later this year, online interviews with Valve"s founder Gabe Newell have indicated that the official launch for DOTA 2 won"t happen until early 2012. In the meantime people who wish to be considered for the closed beta test can sign up via Valve"s DOTA 2 web site.