$3.7 million prize pool announced for upcoming WESG tournament

We’ve heard previously about the intent of Chinese giant “Alibaba” in getting into Esports from its widest doors, and now we have an idea of just how much is the prize pool going to be. It’s 3.7$ million.

WESG or “World Electronic Sports Games” is set to be one of the biggest Esports events of all time. National teams will be representing their countries in competitions at four games which are CS: GO, Dota 2, Hearthstone and StarCraft 2. 24 teams from around the world will compete to reach the grand finals in Shanghai next December.

Qualifiers for the competition will begin on Aug. 13, and will feature a total of nine separate stops across the world. One detail has, however, made members of the community raise their eyebrows: Any team looking to participate has to feature a roster from one nation, severely complicating matters for CS:GO and Dota 2 teams, as several top rosters will not be allowed to compete at the colossal event.

Organized in cooperation with StarSeries and Imba.TV, the tournament is funded primarily by Alisports, the sporting initiative of Alibaba, one of the biggest e-commerce sites in the world. Having made a push in the big red country in the past month, on Jul. 27 Alisports also invested $150 million into the International e-Sports Federation (IeSF).