The next Nanyang Championship LAN will not be held on land, but on the high seas. KeyTV have announced that they will be hosting the Nanyang Dota 2 Championship Cruise Cup #1 aboard the Sapphire Princess, which will sail from Oct. 13 through 17.
Four Chinese teams will compete for a ¥300,000 prize pool (about $45,000 USD). Wings Gaming, victors of TI6, and Newbee were directly invited, while regional qualifiers will determine the other two teams who will join the Cruise Cup on its maiden voyage.
In an interview with JoinDota, tournament director Wang Zilin discussed some of the details of the cruise ship tournament. The matches will happen on the ship while it makes its voyage, with the boat using a dedicated satellite feed to support online streaming and low Dota 2 latency. The broadcast team has wired equipment all throughout the boat to ensure the production will mirror a conventional, land-based event.
It is useful to note that this is the same KeyTV that was fired by Valve's own co-founder Gabe Newell for production issues at the Shanghai Major earlier this year. October will be a fresh opportunity for them to demonstrate their tournament hosting capabilities.
