Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is heading to Thailand after car manufacturer Toyota unveiled its plan for a new esports tournament. Ten teams will be heading to The Toyota Master Bangkok tournament in late November, where a $100,000 prize pool awaits.
So far only one team has been confirmed for the country’s first international CS:GO tournament, and that’s the Asia Minor Championships winners Renegades, but we do know the Australians will be joined by nine other teams from different regions. Three teams will receive a direct invite, while the remaining six have to secure their places through online qualifiers in Europe, North America, CIS, China, South-East Asia, and Thailand, over the course of the next few weeks.
The tournament will then culminate with the main event at the Indoor Stadium Huamark, which seats about 10,000 people, from November 21-25.
“It is an honour and a pleasure to be part of the esports CS:GO competition as esports is currently advancing in the world,” Wutthikorn Suriyachantananon, deputy managing director of Toyota Motors Thailand, says in a press release. “The competition will also be consistent with the Toyota Live Alive concept that supports the new generation and individuals that choose to live their life in their own way.”
It’s not the first time we’ve seen Toyota enter the esports market either – last year they were one of the main sponsors for the inaugural Overwatch League – so this announcement is not only good for the CS:GO itself, but for esports too.
And it seems the car experts have done their research on their audience too. You’ll be glad to know that the whole tournament will be streamed on Twitch in Thai, Chinese, English, and Russian, so hopefully, the buffering woes many experience on Facebook will be a thing of the past.