eSports Open’s League of Legends tournament to turn Melbourne into gaming capital

ONE of the world’s most popular games will feature in the country’s biggest eSports tournament in Melbourne later this year, it can be revealed, as Essendon’s Joe Daniher gets behind his club’s eSports team members.

AMATEUR video gamers will be able to take on professional players when Melbourne stages Australia’s biggest eSports tournament for the first time this year.

The Herald Sun can reveal one of the world’s most popular games, League of Legends, will be announced on Wednesday as a multi-year feature of September’s Melbourne eSports Open.

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Joe Daniher from the Bombers and netballer Jo Weston Bombers with esports gamers Alan Roger (Tiger) and Andrew Rose (Rosie). Picture: Tony Gough

A series of open tournaments also will be held around Melbourne Park where anyone can enter and play against the world’s best.

The League of Legends Oceanic pro league finals will headline the Melbourne tournament until 2022 in a coup for the event. Overwatch and Fortnite are also expected to feature.

The event is expected to inject $25 million into the state economy over five years.

Essendon footy star Joe Daniher threw his support behind the tournament, which will feature Bombers eSports team members. He said the club was invested in the lucrative and fast-growing industry.

A League of Legends tournament in action.

“It is incredible and you look at the Australian market in that area and it’s relatively untapped,” he said.

“To hear how it is growing so rapidly around the world, it’s certainly a good sign it will continue to grow in Australia.”

With a worldwide global audience of 385 million and annual growth of more than 41 per cent, eSports is an entertainment powerhouse. Australia boasts more than 1.8 million eSports fanatics, including 560,000 in Victoria.

The Melbourne eSports Open is expected to attract more than 20,000 fans and cement Melbourne as the ­eSports capital of the nation.

Promoters TEG want the tournament to have the same appeal as traditional sporting blockbusters in Melbourne.

“The Melbourne eSports Open is the future of live entertainment coming at us at full speed,” TEG Live managing ­director Tim McGregor said.

“This is like a full-on rock concert mixed with an ultra-competitive footy final on a ­dynamic digital stage.’’

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