While esports tournaments usually promise excitement, epic competitions, and plenty of great memories to make, there are some bad apples as well – much to the disappointment of the attending and watching fans. There are a lot of things that can go wrong in big esports events… and sometimes, that’s exactly what happens.
Here are some of the biggest tournament fails in esports history.
Video X Games 2013
VXG wanted to be the biggest event in fighting game history – it ended up being one of the worst esports tournaments instead. Taking place on the idyllic island of St. Maarten, participants saw problems coming a mile off. Organized by Isaiah "TriForce" Johnson, who had a reputation for breaking promises, participants soon realized that his reputation was well-earned.
Mid-tournament, the top players were asked to sign a contract that said they would receive 33% of their winnings immediately and the rest at a later date. Needless to say, this was not the case – over half a dozen notable players never received their money, and it’s not even clear if the winners really deserved it either – there were even some allegations of match-fixing during the MvC 3 finals.
- READ MORE: The biggest lies in esports
India Gaming Carnival 2012
India is a rising power in the esports world, that much is undeniable – however, things don’t always go smoothly. In fact, sometimes they go so badly that people’s health and safety are threatened. Truly one of the worst esports tournaments ever, the Gaming Carnival had issues with everything – delays, subpar and late equipment, and so on.
Moscow 5, one of the teams attending the event, however, saw a much worse side. The team was warned by other big names like Na'Vi and Fnatic not to go but decided to do so anyway. They reached the semi-finals at which point the tournament organizers turned off the electricity. Waiting for a cab, the squad was threatened by locals, and the next morning they found that their room had been broken into. Cash and a memory stick with evidence of the event had been stolen. As far as big esports events go, this was definitely one of the worst in the country’s history.
Gaming Paradise 2015
As you may have guessed, there was nothing paradise-like about this Slovenia-based shooter tournament. The hardware was subpar and arrived late, players had to use folding chairs and tables, and the first-day event was delayed by 9 hours because of a lack of computers. The Dota 2 competition was spontaneously canceled, with only this vague statement as an explanation by the organizers:
"We envisaged Gaming Paradise 2015 as a great, first-of-a-kind event that would combine e-sports and tourism. We invested a lot of effort into it, but as with every pioneer project, we met a lot of problems along the way, some of which came up unexpectedly right before the event."
And that was just the beginning.
Attendees also discovered that neither the hotel nor the equipment there were paid for which led to the police showing up and detaining people while hotels held visitor passports. To nobody’s surprise, the winners of the events that weren’t canceled didn’t all receive their prize money either.
World Cyber Arena 2015
This event took place in Yinchuan, China, and it pretty much contained everything bad about the esports industry. Poor planning, awful conditions, bad treatment of the players, and fans… and that was just the journey to the location!
Held in December, the event forced players through an hour-long bus ride without heating before seating them on tiny plastic chairs in front of folding tables to play. Dota 2 was the game – yet, teams were placed so close to each other that they could easily hear each other’s calls. Fans were horrified by how small everything was… and the fact that there wasn’t even anywhere for players to sit or rest, leading to photos of players asleep on the floor or balanced on multiple chairs just to get some rest.
This big esports event easily qualifies as the worst esports tournament ever held – at least, so far.
With such heavy investment in esports, do you think there will be an event to beat all these disasters?
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