#Teamspirit time tracking series#

Only one member had taken part in The International before – the others were little more than skilled amateurs.

Team Spirit’s current squad was assembled less than a year ago. Much of the prize money for The International 10 comes from money spent in the game by players worldwide, including on skins, so reports of a potential skins market backing the winning team adds an element of circularity which some commentators find suspect. The Bell reports that ’s skins' marketplace is worth upwards of several million dollars a month, not including income from another category of item called loot boxes, which also bring in a considerable sum of money. This has led to the growth of a gambling market which uses skins as a virtual currency (which can be wagered on the outcome of an upcoming gaming battle on a streaming site, for example), as well as a good deal of scams, of which children are often the victims. While various attempts at regulating third-party sites have been made, including some court cases against bloggers promoting them in the US, the black market regularly outpaces game owner Valve. In 2018, when the market for skins was at its highest, a study by Juniper Research found that the global skins industry was likely to see a total spend of $50bn by 2022. Marketplaces for skins have nonetheless sprung up over time, such as Russian platform CS.money and Ukrainian DMarket, where trades are notionally cash-free, and money does not change hands. They are bought through the game for real money, and cannot officially be re-sold. Skins are graphics which change a character’s appearance (or that of their weapon) in video games. Among the other sites of which IT company Onmoon owns the domain is, a gaming information hub integrated with one of the largest skins markets in the world:. While the team’s CEO, Nikita Chukalin, refuses to answer questions about the identities of Team Spirit’s financiers, a hint can be gleaned from the team’s website domain, belonging to, according to The Bell. Team Spirit’s official backers, on the other hand, consists of a disparate group of unnamed individuals who would hardly seem able to recruit the kind of pricey talent required to keep up with the other teams. Virtus Pro, for example, belongs to VK (formerly Group, the leading Russian market player for gaming), while Gambit is owned by Russia’s largest network operator MTS. Unlike the other big Russian Dota2 teams, however, Team Spirit does not have a strategic partner. Their opponents in the Grand Finals, Chinese team LGD, are supported by French football club Paris Saint Germain, while America’s Evil Geniuses are sponsored by Monster Energy Drinks. Team Spirit would not be the first team to have high-powered sponsors. Perhaps even more surprising than the team’s sudden rise to fame, though, is the report by online newsletter The Bell that an “extensive skins empire” could be among the team’s backers.

Their unlikely victory drew acclaim at home the team appeared on Russia’s Channel One the same evening, and even received a congratulatory message from President Vladimir Putin.

#Teamspirit time tracking series#

After a series of embarrassing losses during the regular season and the open qualifiers, few had Team Spirit down even to make it into the finals. The International 10 is no ordinary sporting event: it is the world championship for multiplayer online battle arena video game Dota2, and comes with an $18.2mn prize – the biggest in eSports.įor seasoned cybersports fans, Team Spirit’s ascendency was entirely unexpected. The team of five youngsters – the oldest of them only 23 years of age – looked somewhat out of place, dwarfed by Romania’s biggest stadium. On 17 October, Russia’s Team Spirit triumphantly lifted the Aegis of Champions.