Can Professional Chinese Dota Survive?

In China, kids are no longer allowed to play video games for more than several hours per week. For a game of Dota 2’s complexity, even several hours per day wouldn’t be sufficient to allow someone to become a professional player after five years of competing in pubs.

This law, combined with other problems, gives Chinese Dota very little chance to survive in the next five years.

An Aging Pro Scene

Last year, after The International 11, a lot of top Dota 2 players either decided to take a break or retire completely. Regionally, the results aren’t obvious because whenever a player stops competing someone will take his place. And if a team wants to quit, there are others who can join Division I and start making a name for themselves.

But internationally, relative to the results of former Chinese Dota 2 teams, the current ones are much weaker. We already had the opportunity to experience this at the recent Lima Major, where China had four competitors in the race, and two of them, EHOME and Knights, finished last in their groups.

The other two were ranked 7th – 8th (Team Aster) and 9th – 12th (PSG.LGD). They were not even close to achieving something remarkable.

Changes

Valve Corporation

Before the start of Tour 2, some of the Chinese teams upgraded their roster. The most significant upgrade was made by Xtreme Gaming, who brought in a highly experienced player that is a former TI finalist: Hu “Kaka” Liangzhi. He is well-known around the world for his results and is considered to be one of the best position 4 players in history.

Will Xtreme Gaming thrive regionally and then internationally thanks to this change? It remains to be seen. So far, they appear to be doing well in China’s Division I and started Tour 2 with two victories. Their main rivals will be Aster and PSG.LGD.

However, because the number of qualification spots for the Berlin Major is four, we will almost certainly get the opportunity to watch the new Xtreme Gaming roster competing against the likes of Team Liquid and Team Spirit.

Header: Valve Corporation