WePlay Esports Events Atmosphere

By now, almost everyone in the fighting games community has already heard that WePlay Esports is organizing the upcoming WePlay Ultimate Fighting League Season 1 with the tournaments in Mortal Kombat 11, Tekken 7, and SOULCALIBUR VI. But many don’t know yet what does this mean production-wise. WePlay Dragon Temple, held last December, was just the tip of the iceberg: the history of the themed events goes much farther.

While we're waiting for WUFL Season 1 to start, we can take a look at the previous WePlay events and fantasize about the upcoming tournament!

Conceptually, WePlay Esports has been around since the 00s, but the first precursor of the events to come was the offline part of the Dota 2 League Season 3 in 2016. Back then, there were no thematics or standout aesthetics, just your run-of-the-mill professionally organized esports event in Dota 2.

WePlay! Dota 2 Winter Madness

The first tournament in the already-familiar style was the WePlay! Reshuffle Madness in 2018 – a Summer fun themed online Dota 2 tournament. It was swiftly followed up with the Winter Madness – a cozy and festive Winter wonderland with a crackling fireplace and the Christmas gifts.

WePlay! Lock and Load

WePlay! Lock and Load was the first foray into the CS:GO event organization, and the chosen thematic was that of the spy action movies. All the talents were wearing tuxedos that would put to shame even the famous Double O agent with the license to kill. Every aspect of the broadcast shared the vibe: the music, the graphics, even the tone. This event set the highest of standards for any upcoming tournament to beat.

WePlay! Dota 2 Valentine Madness

From something serious but still humorous to pure unadulterated fun – WePlay! Dota 2 Valentine Madness. Valentine’s Day is a celebration of love and romance in any form, so the production team embraced the easily discernible hearts, pink and red coloring, and … unicorn pyjamas! World-class talent looked absolutely adorable in those!

WePlay! Dota 2 Tug of War: Radiant & Tug of War: Dire

The twin Dota 2 events took place in 2019. The final part of the Tug of War trilogy will be set in 2020, and we’ll get to it later. The Radiant and Dire events were completely Dota-2 themed and took a deep dive into the game’s lore to appeal to the core audience of the game. Still, WePlay Esports added its own twist to it, with neon lights that created the cyberpunk feel.

WePlay! Reshuffle Madness 2019

Studio revisited the Reshuffle Madness event the following year. WePlay! Reshuffle Madness 2019 was given a thematic lift: instead of a vague summer-themed tournament, we got a dedicated resort-based event. Everyone loves those! The studio was reimagined into a beach, and the talents donned the appropriate attire. Summer beats from a DJ, and fresh cocktails accompanied the whole event.

WePlay! Forge of Masters League

The very same 2019 saw WePlay Esports host two seasons of the Forge of Master CS:GO league: one in Spring, one in Autumn. The LAN finals in May had a striking aesthetic of the boy scout camp. Those camps are used to teach kids some valuable lessons, and it goes very well with the thematic of the Forge of Master: creating future superstars.

The second season finals had players riding towards one destination – greatness. The arena looked like a train station, with an arrivals and departures screen and tons of luggage, and the players were sitting in the booths that looked like makeshift trains. Choo-choo!

WePlay! Bukovel Minor 2020

The year of the pandemic saw WePlay Esports host events from the official tours of different games. The first of those was the WePlay! Bukovel Minor 2020, an official Dota 2 professional tour event hosted in Bukovel, the largest ski resort in Eastern Europe. It was notable not only for such an exotic location for an esports event but also for its style, production values, and cozy, homey atmosphere at the 300-person arena. All this, coupled with the high level of play, made it the most-watched Dota 2 Minor in history, with 223 thousand viewers at the peak.

WePlay! Clutch Island

The official CS:GO Reginal Major Rankings event for the CIS region was held at the start of Summer 2020. The teams fought in an online environment, forced by the pandemic conditions, but the analytics and commentary were still hosted at the studio. This time around, the thematic was a survival island, like in those TV shows you have most certainly seen. Esports is also the survival of the fittest kind of world.

WePlay! VALORANT Invitational

The final official tour event of the year was WePlay! VALORANT Invitational, an official IGNITION Series tournament and WePlay’s first collaboration with Riot Games. Its retro-futuristic cyberpunk setting was inspired by many pieces of popular media across many genres, and it fit the newly released esports title like a glove.

WePlay! Dota 2 Tug of War: Mad Moon

Even with all the official events, WePlay Esports never stopped doing its own thing. Remember the twin Tug of War events we mentioned? The grand final of those took place in February of 2020: WePlay! Dota 2 Tug of War: Mad Moon. It was still an event for the hardcore Dota 2 fans, but the thematic was more cyber and more punk than any other WePlay tournament before. It was so cyber that the Cybertuck itself showed up!

WePlay! Pushka League

WePlay’s own brainchild, Pushka League adopted the posh and elite look that of the Ivy League universities. The deep blue and gold color scheme, coupled with heraldic elements within the design, further reinforced the feel of pompousness and style. No one has ever looked more stylish at the analyst desk than the talents attending the WePlay! Pushka League.

OMEGA League

OMEGA League was positioned to do for Dota 2 what the Olympics did for the traditional sports – be a pinnacle of competition because, with The International out of the picture, all the top teams needed a tournament to play in. What thematic could fit better than Ancient Greece. The first Olympics united people across the world, and under the watchful eyes of the Gods they battled to be named champions. So the talents donned togas, put on sandals and olive branches, and sat among the statues, drinking nectar and discussing the games being played.

As you can see, WePlay Esports deeply cares about the proper atmosphere and the presentation on its events. WePlay Ultimate Fighting League will be no exception, that much we can guarantee! Make sure to follow the WUFL Twitter and Twitch, so you don’t miss the glorious new look of the WePlay Esports Arena Kyiv! Read more about the WePlay Esports tournaments on the event page.

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