One talented teenager has accomplished every 16-year-old’s dream by winning $6.63million (£4m) playing Defence of the Ancients 2.
Samuel Hassan’s five-man team, Evil Geniuses, scooped the top prize at Valve’s eSports competition ‘The International’ netting $6.63million (£4m) last weekend. Playing popular eSports game DotA 2, the team managed to fend off 18 other outfits from around the globe at the Key Arena in Seattle.
176 games played, 18 teams, 11 days and 1 Aegis. These are your #TI5 Champions! @EvilGeniuses pic.twitter.com/mFmt63WT7c
— DOTA 2 (@DOTA2) August 9, 2015
Founded in 1999, the American-based fivesome are owned by an umbrella company of Amazon’s Twitch, called GoodGame Agency, who in turn operate another three eSports teams. Syed Sumail Hussan, who is originally from Pakistan, now lives in Rosemont, Illinois, and helped Evil Geniuses win a $1.2million first place price at the Dota Asia Championships this year. Growing up in Pakistan, Sumail sold his bicycle so he could afford to play more DotA – a decision that’s definitely paid off.
The purse was the largest amount ever up for grabs in eSports, and was more than you’d get for winning the Masters, the Tour de France or the Kentucky Derby. The huge winnings were partly crowdfunded by Valve, as it chipped in $2.50 for every $9.99 spent in-game in DotA 2, on top of a base prize of $1.6million.
Check out the video of Evil Geniuses’ win over Chinese based rivals, CDEC, below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhC5x5qFG2Q
Congratulations Sumail and the entire Evil Geniuses team for the hard earned victory – enjoy that money!
Mark is the Gaming Editor for UNILAD. Having grown up a gaming addict, he’s been deeply entrenched in culture and spends time away from work playing as much as possible. Mark studied music at University and found a love for journalism through going to local gigs and writing about them for local and national publications.