Excitement echoes through the World of Dota as BLAST announces its foray into the legendary game. With a long-standing affection for the title and a keen eye on its evolving ecosystem, BLAST sees an opportunity to bring its signature blend of innovation and top-tier competition to the Dota community.
As BLAST gears up to venture into Dota, fans can anticipate a fresh approach that sets their tournaments apart. Drawing from years of experience across different games, BLAST aims to redefine the in-game viewing experience while maintaining its hallmark production quality.
With plans to unveil the full spectrum of the Dota circuit soon, BLAST emphasises a commitment to balance, ensuring each tournament offers compelling narratives and maximum entertainment.
We sat down with Rory McEcvoy, Head of Product at BLAST.tv and Andrew Haworth, VP Ecosystems, to get insight into what fans can expect from BLAST’s Dota adventure.
It’s a game we’ve loved as fans and players for many years. We’ve been following closely as an interested TO for the last few years as well. As we’ve grown as a business, you’ve seen BLAST expand into further titles, and Dota has always been on our wish list. With the recent changes to the Dota ecosystem, we feel it’s the perfect opportunity for BLAST to come in and provide the community with the next level of Dota tournaments.
We want to apply many of our learnings from operating other games. We will look into how we can elevate the in-game viewing experience. BLAST prides itself on unparalleled production quality and game-changing fan-first moments while bringing together the best teams and biggest superstars to fight it out for glory.
We aim to bring all of this together and apply it to Dota 2.
One step at a time….we have worked in Counter-Strike for several years before we felt it was right to pitch for a Major. We’re really excited about building out a BLAST Dota proposition and seeing how the audience and teams react to that. We’re going to focus on that first and foremost before we start looking at other opportunities.
Obviously, though it would be an incredible honour one day to be involved in a TI.
We’re finalising the last parts of the BLAST Dota circuit and look forward to announcing the full details very soon. It’s pleasing to see the excitement and interest in Dota from so many TO’s into 2025. While that could lead to a chaotic calendar, it’s a great reflection of the strength and opportunities within the scene. We’re focussing on creating the right balance of tournaments that allow us to create the best entertainment with the most compelling storylines that reach the most fans rather than purely pumping out events.
BLAST will not be afraid of making changes to what is considered the norm. If we think the show can be improved by challenging the status quo we will do it with respect to the game, ensuring competitive integrity, and listening to the community feedback.
Our first tournament will be a studio event in November 2024. We've planned four other events in 2025, and we cannot wait to share more information with the fans during summer, when we aim to reveal formats, prize pools, and much more.
Hell yes! We want to provide a different way of watching from Twitch or Youtube and plan to have our first iteration ready for the first BLAST Dota event. BLAST.tv is tailor-made for Dota 2 and esports fans, allowing them to get closer to the action.
A: We will be covering other T1 tournaments from a stats, information, and mini-games point of view. Expect to find features relating to your favourite teams and players, tournament updates, stats, guides, and everything in between. We will build what Dota fans want, so feel free to let us know!
I think at its core, the viewing experience will have all the great things Twitch has to offer with that added layer of live stats, being able to engage and have your say on the broadcast, and being able to focus on the individual players' POVs as well as the broadcast.
It will mirror what we’ve done in CS but will be very specifically built with the Dota audience and the game itself in mind. That’s why we really want to hear from the Dota community on what they are missing online and from a viewing POV. We’ll build what they want us to build.
BLAST ApS., Hauser Plads 1, 3., 1127 Copenhagen