Dota 2 Snubbed at The Game Awards 2019

^{Image Courtesy: Vladyslava}

The Game Awards 2019 finally happened, on November 13th, with much fanfare and saw multiple awards being given out to the best of 2019. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was awarded Game of the Year, while Disco Elysium received the most awards (four) in total. The new Xbox One X was also released at the event.

A special set of awards for esports were also given out. Dota 2, The International 2019, Paul "Redeye" Chaloner, Titouan "Sockshka" Merloz, and Team OG were nominated for five different award categories.

However, not a single one managed to win at The Game Awards 2019.

Best Esports Game - League of Legends

Image Courtesy: LaRepublica

Despite being lauded by many esports personalities, for having the best esports circuit amongst the many different esports titles and pushing new boundaries, like taking esports tournaments to Disneyland, Dota 2 failed to claim the best ‘Esports Game’ award.

In contrast, League of Legends received the award even after the company behind the game - Riot Esports was hit with accusations of Racism and Sexism.

Best Esports Player - Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf

No Dota 2 player was even nominated for this award. It was quite a surprise to see the nominations not include a Dota 2 player, despite many setting new records. Not even the players from OG, who made history this year were considered for this award.

Best Esports Tournament - 2019 League of Legends World Championship

Despite hosting the largest ever esports tournament in history by prizepool, with a record USD 34,300,000 , The International 2019 failed to win the ‘Best Esports Tournament’ award. The tournament also drew in an average viewership of 726,000.

In contrast, the 2019 League of Legends World Championship only had a $2,225,000 prizepool. However, the tournament drew in an average viewership of 1.02 Million.

Best Esports Team - G2 Esports

G2 Esports managed to claim the ‘Best Esports Team’ award, despite finishing in second place at the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. 

Contrast this to OG, who made history by becoming the first team to win Two TIs in a row and securing over $15,000,000 in prize winnings and cementing their spot as the most successful and the highest-earning team (by prizepool) in history.

Best Esports Coach - Danny "Zonic" Sørensen

OG’s coach Sockshka was nominated for this award. However, the award was claimed by Astralis’ coach Zonic.

This is not the first award that Zonic won this year. He also bagged the title of “Coach of the Year” at the 2019 Esports Awards. He even released his book “Hjernen Bag Astralis” aka “The Brain Behind Astralis” in November earlier this year, detailing his work with the team.

This is well-deserved and in all likelihood wouldn’t have gone to Sockshka even if Zonic didn’t win it.

Best Esports Host - Eefje "Sjokz" Depoortere

Sjokz is an icon in the esports world and has been instrumental in opening up the scene for other women. Her contributions toward legitimizing her gender in the esports world cannot be understated and this award is certainly well deserved for her.

Although Paul "Redeye" Chaloner has also contributed greatly towards esports, it looks like he’ll have to wait a little bit longer to add to his legacy with an award from The Game Awards.