ONE Esports Singapore Major confirmed as next Dota 2 major

The ONE Esports Singapore Major will become a reality in 2021.

Following a huge leak last week, PGL and ONE Esports have confirmed that they will be hosting the first major of the 2021 Dota Pro Circuit season. The event will feature teams from around the world and is positioned to be the game’s first inter-regional LAN event since Dota Summit 12 in March 2020, and the first Dota 2 major since DreamLeague Season 13.

“We are pleased to come back to Singapore for another great tournament after the Dota 2 Singapore Invitational 2019…We are committed to this region with a strategic partnership with Singapore’s primary trade association for esports, the Singapore Games Association, and we are more than happy to run great events for SEA and Dota 2 over and over again,” PGL CEO Silviu Stroie said.

Stroie noted that Singapore is among the “safest countries in the world,” making it a viable landing spot for a Dota 2 major. While this is exciting news for Dota 2 fans, some details regarding the event are unclear. No official venue has been announced for the event and it is unclear whether any part of the event will play out in front of a crowd. 

Regardless, PGL noted that the ONE Esports Singapore Major will break ground as the first Dota 2 major to be broadcast in 4K quality.

When is the next Dota 2 major?

The ONE Esports Singapore Major will run from March 27 to April 4, will have a prize pool of $500,000, and will feature 2,700 Dota Pro Circuit points on the line.

Who is playing in the ONE Esports Singapore Major?

The ONE Esports Singapore Major will involve 18 teams from all six Dota 2 regions. Each region will send between two and four teams to compete in the event, with two teams from North and South America, three from both CIS and Southeast Asia, and four apiece from China and Europe.

The first-place finishers from each Dota Pro Circuit upper division league will start the event in the playoffs while the second-place teams will start in the group stage. The other teams will compete in a round-robin wild card stage to determine the last two entrants into the group stage.

How many Dota 2 majors are there?

The ONE Esports Singapore Major will be the 22nd Dota 2 major. The majors were originally handled by Valve and organized by PGL, with each having a $3 million prize pool. The Dota Pro Circuit was introduced in 2017 and has been changed several times in the years since.

Originally, any tournament organizer could put together a major simply by meeting a few parameters regarding its qualification system and prize pool. In the 2018-2019 season the number of majors and minors was reduced to five each. The 2020-2021 season was meant to pivot to a format that included just three majors and no minors, with regional leagues in between. It is unclear if that remains the plan for the future of pro Dota 2.