Mercedes-Benz awarded the best player of the ESL One Katowice 2018 tournament a vehicle of his choice valued at 50,000 euros

An actor dressed as Crystal Maiden and two “Creeps”, figures from the online game Dota 2, are posing in front of a Mercedes-Benz A-Class and the Spodek arena Katowice. Pictures taken in context of ESL One Katowice 2018

STUTTGART/KATOWICE, 27-Feb-2018 — /EuropaWire/ — 80 players, 16 teams, a million US dollars in prize money. The world’s best players and teams in the Dota 2 discipline, a real-time strategy game, determined their champions from 24 to 25 February 2018 in the Spodek Arena in the Polish city of Katowice. As part of the first tournament of the Dota Major Championships held there, Mercedes-Benz awarded the best player of the tournament a vehicle of his choice valued at 50,000 euros. The global fan community and a jury voted the Russian Vladimir “RodjER” Nikogosyan the most valuable player (MVP).

The fully crowded Spodek Arena cheered MVP “RodjER” as he accepted the trophy. He had previously delivered an outstanding performance during the tournament and played a decisive role in the victory of his team Virtus.Pro. As a result, the verdict of the fans during the online voting and of the jury of experts was unequivocal. “The fact that our partner Mercedes-Benz now awards a vehicle to the MVP for already the second time following the event in Hamburg in 2017 makes us at ESL very proud. The ongoing engagement of Mercedes-Benz shows the strong commitment of the premium brand to play an active part in eSports and the community further on. We are very happy that we succeeded to get a global brand of this magnitude enthusiastic about the industry!” says Ralf Reichert, founder and CEO of organiser ESL (Electronic Sports League).

As an international premium partner of ESL One, Mercedes-Benz has been active at eSports events related to the Dota 2 game since 2017. As part of ESL One in Genting, Malaysia, an eSports film was produced most recently, which picks up on the mechanism of the “Grow Up” campaign https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5Z4doe1x2g. In addition to the presence on site and the MVP vote, the ESL for the first time produced an opening video in cooperation with Mercedes-Benz for ESL One in Katowice. The film was preceded by shooting in wintry Katowice. Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_aAPnyjGL4 to see the story of two so-called creeps, with whom the Dota 2 heroes can interact, compete with a high-speed chase through the eSports metropolis.

“What we have seen in the past six months with the ESL in eSports and in small parts also had the privilege to help shape, exceeded our expectations. The dynamics of eSports, the first-class events, and the enthusiasm of the community is unique in sport”, as Dr Jens Thiemer, Vice President Marketing Mercedes-Benz Cars, summarises the engagement and the partnership with the ESL. “It was the right step to become part of the global eSports movement and thereby get to know and understand better a target audience that is new for us”.

SOURCE: Daimler AG

Jan Weber
Office International Sports Communications
Email jan.weber@daimler.com
Phone +49 (0) 711 17 95299

Claudia Merzbach
Office Manager International Sports Communications
Email claudia.merzbach@daimler.com
Phone +49 711 17 95379
Fax .