RIYADH: The first Gamers8 championships has left crowds astonished by the slick production and excitement of the games.
The first championships welcomed the best “Rocket League” teams in the world to go head to head for three days to name the winner of the pooled $2 million cash prize.
Brazilian players CaioTG1, Caard, Yanxnz, and their coach Kairos won the final match after a strong competition against Guild Esports with a total of four wins to none.
The Furia team took home the $500,000 prize, which is the largest share of the $2 million tournament prize pool. The runner-up team, Guild Esports, received $300,000.
Throughout the match, chants from the audience rang through the stadium as beaming lights and fire effects welcomed the competitors to the stage.
Fans and players were blown away by the advanced technology surrounding the gaming arena.
“I didn’t expect any of this, I expected it to be like any other events that we have seen in London or any other city, but when I actually came here, the production was out of this world, the cameras, the people and the crowds, it was an amazing experience,” said Mohammed Bandar Almutairi, a 21-year-old gaming fan from Riyadh.
Almutairi attended the championships from the first day with his friends but did not expect this level of excitement in the arena.
“The voice of the crowds and people in Saudi Arabia was amazing to see,” he told Arab News.
During the second match of the semi-finals, the Saudi Falcons team went up against Furia’s Brazilian team.
“The Saudi fan base is awesome, I honestly expected and wanted the Falcons to win the whole tournament, but they had a great performance overall, Falcons won three matches, and they only needed one more match to win,” Almutairi explained.
Although the Saudi team did not make it to the finals, the audience was filled with cheers and chants until the very last second of the match.
The finals welcomed fans and global names in video game streaming from around the world, including Dutch streamer Jess, who attended the event dressed in traditional Saudi attire with his fellow gamer Kyle Roberts.
“I really like the event, the stage and the setup has been amazing, and the people have been very nice and kind and really friendly,” Jess told Arab News.
“The stage is really awesome, and it provides a real show, and I like the clothes as well it’s lovely, and I think it looks really good,” he said.
Kyle Roberts, a gamer, attended the finals from Scotland to show his support for the competing teams.
“The event is great, and I am really enjoying it. I feel really good. I love the country, and I love the city, and it’s a really good show,” Roberts said.
Following the closing ceremony, Furia’s winning team shared their insights into competing in a gaming arena in Riyadh Boulevard City.
“It was honestly really awesome, and the thing that I liked most about it that other arenas didnt have was the wall of lights, it was sick,” Kairos Silva, Furia’s Rocket League coach, told Arab News.
Surrounding the gaming arena was a floor-to-ceiling wall of lights continuously changing to mimic each match’s gaming plays.
The Saudi audience members were thrilled to see a gaming event of this scale carried out in the Kingdom. Many fans shared their excitement about seeing the championships.
“These kinds of events that the whole world sees are very good for Saudi Arabia to host,” Almutairi said.
Gamers8 will continue for eight weeks, until the closing ceremony on Sept. 8, offering a variety of matches and concerts.
