Cover-Credits:
Entity and Nigma Galaxy are among two prominent teams from Europe and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) that have received direct invites to Games of the Future 2024. On 6th Jan 2024, the official VK handle of the tournament revealed additional invited teams, thereby disclosing a total of 14 out of the 16 participating teams. Among the teams participating in the event, only Nigma, Entity, and Winter Bear come from Europe or MENA, leaving aside teams from Russia. Entity has played in Western Europe over the last few years but its current roster comprises two Russian players, a Kazakh, a Ukrainian, and a Belarusian.
A LAN event, Games of the Future 2024, is slated to take place from 19th to 25th Feb 2024 in Kazan, Russia.
Games of the Future 2024 extends direct invites to Nigma Galaxy and Entity
According to Games of the Future 2024's VK post, 14 teams have been revealed with Nigma and Entity as the notable ones. The organizer added that one squad, Echpo4mak, is comprised of media personalities whose names will be revealed soon.
Team list
One Move (Phygital Games 1)
Hydra (Phygital Games 2)
Invictus Gaming
LGD Gaming
Xtreme Gaming
Azure Ray
Beastcoast
Thunder Awaken
BOOM Esports
Entity
Nigma Galaxy
Winter Break
Neon Esports
Echpo4mak
TBD
TBD
Games of the Future is one of the premier Dota 2 competitions taking place in the first half of 2024, with a $1,000,000 USD prize pool. It joins the league of BetBoom Dacha Dubai, DreamLeague Season 22, and ESL One Birmingham 2024, all of which are scheduled to take place between February and April 2024.
On the other hand, Games of the Future 2024 is also arguably the largest Dota 2 LAN event to take place in Russia after the country’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since it was announced as part of the Kazan Expo in a LAN setting in Russia, there has been speculation over how many teams outside of the nation would be eager to compete.
With most teams now disclosed, squads from China, the Philippines, MENA, Europe, and South America have joined the mix, indicating a fairly substantial level of interest in the tournament.
The event's website describes the event as having a "phygital" component, and that finalists will compete in a super final to demonstrate their physical skills. The prize pool for the same is $50,000. Currently, it is unknown how the super final will work.
Only two teams are left to be announced, and then the team pool will be finalized. On 25th Feb, Games of the Future 2024 comes to an end which coincides with the start of DreamLeague S22. As such, despite DreamLeague S22 being an online event, it is unlikely that any of the teams involved with it will be among the final two teams.
