Esports tournament in Istanbul ends as LOUD wins
ISTANBUL
With an audience of millions, Brazilian esports team LOUD has defeated U.S. OpTic Gaming in the 2022 Valorant Champions Tour’s final at Istanbul’s Volkswagen Arena.
The final weekend of the event, which was the biggest tournament of Valorant, an online video game with over 1.5 million daily players, demonstrated the esports’ global reach, with the final four rosters hailing from the U.S., Brazil, South Korea and Europe.
With a score of 3-1, the winner of the final game was LOUD, the undefeated team of the tournament.
The final game was broadcast in 20 different languages and watched online by 1.5 million people, while 40 journalists from around the globe were in Istanbul for the finals.
While 6,500 people formed long queues at the arena, two giant screens were set up in the Kadıköy district for those who could not follow the final game on site due to lack of space.
The Galata Tower, one of the important symbols of the city, was illuminated with the tournament’s visuals, while the name LOUD was also flashed on the tower.
The champions, LOUD, won $300,000, while OpTic Gaming, finishing second, received $150,000, and DRX, sitting in third place, was awarded $110,000.
Fnatic, the only Turkish team in the tournament headed by Emir Ali Beder, nicknamed Alfajer, claimed fifth place and received $60,000.
“I hope we will be champions next year,” 17-year-old Beder said, stating that it is a matter of pride that the tournament took place in Türkiye.
“While such gaming contests usually don’t give that much importance to Turkish players, Valorant especially cares about Turks. This is something to be very proud of,” he added.
