Inaugural Melbourne Park eSports event attracts thousands

More than 12,000 eSports fans attended Melbourne Park last weekend as the inaugural Melbourne Esports Open saw enthusiasts of all ages turn up to watch, play and compete in the biggest number of live esports tournaments ever held at an event in Australia.

The event, which took place on 1st and 2nd September at the Rod Laver Arena, also attracted massive online with fans viewing content from the event over 12 million times across Twitter, Facebook and Reddit.

Explaining that the success of the first Melbourne Esports Open shows that eSports has a bright future on Australia’s major events calendar, Geoff Jones Chief Executive of co-promoter TEG, stated “we see in Europe, Asia and North America that major esports tournaments attract live audiences of 40,000 to 50,000 fans and millions online.

“There is no reason to doubt that Australia can follow that trend and make the Melbourne Esports Open a huge live event and a significant global esports competition.”

The League of Legends’ Oceanic Pro League Grand Final was the main event on last Sunday, with fan favourites and four-time champions the Dire Wolves taking home the trophy after toppling the Chiefs Esports Club in a 3-1 victory. The Dire Wolves will now represent Australia in the League of Legends World Championship in South Korea, and represent the Oceania region in the global championship.

The Overwatch Contenders Australian Semi and Grand Finals shared the spotlight on the Rod Laver Arena main stage on Saturday 1st September. The Sydney Drop Bears took home the title as champions of Overwatch Contenders Australia Season 2, taking out Dark Sided 4-1 in the Grand Final. It was a titanic struggle where the unrelenting pressure and cool decision-making of the Drop Bears was too much for Dark Sided after a great start.

Meanwhile, the adjacent Margaret Court Arena was transformed into the ESL Tournament Zone - a multi-tournament venue, featuring Forza, Overwatch, CS:GO, Pokemon and headlined by global sensation Fortnite.

Outside of Rod Laver Arena and Margaret Court Arena, thousands of fans packed into the JB Hi-Fi Game On Zone, to free play some of the hottest games along with first to play access to some of the biggest upcoming games including Marvel’s Spider-Man, Tom Clancy’s The Division and Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

Melbourne Esports Open is co-promoted by ESL, TEG Live and Fairfax Events with the support of Visit Victoria, Victoria's tourism and events agency.

Images of the inaugural Melbourne Esports Open courtesy of the Rod Laver Arena/Facebook.