American stars Version1 tasted the “phenomenal feeling” of victory in the Rocket League tournament at Gamera8: The Land of Heroes on Sunday night after beating Saudi Arabian team Rule One 4-1 in the grand final.
After four days of incredible action involving 24 elite level teams at the Esports Arena at Boulevard Riyadh City, Version1 claimed the coveted Gamers8 trophy and the $500,000 top award from the whopping $2 million prize pool.
Version1, featuring Comm, Beastmode, and Daniel, reached the final after beating another Saudi Arabian side Team Falcons 4-2 in the semi-final in dramatic fashion, while Rule One claimed their spot by triumphing 4-1 over Swiss side Team BDS.
The spectacular conclusion of Rocket League brought the curtain down on the elite esports tournaments at eight-week long Gamers8: The Land of Heroes, which is organized by the Saudi Esports Federation.
Comm, who described his goal that took game five into overtime as “by far the biggest goal” of his career, said: “I’ve been playing professionally for almost three years – Version1 was my first team – and to come here and finally show that we have what it takes to win it all in such a big tournament is a phenomenal feeling.
“The home fans were very loud, but we’ve had a lot of practice over the years of teams not exactly rooting for us so at this point we’ve learned to tune it out.”
Daniel said: “We just trusted in each other and played as a team and that’s why we won.”
Rocket League coach Fireburner praised the standard of the Saudi Arabian teams that they faced at Gamers8. He said: “Falcons and Rule One I already had in my head as two of the top three or four teams along with us and Vitality. I think we had a pretty tough road to the final. In the championship, Rule One showed themselves to be the second best team in the tournament but we just felt that on the day, and especially after making it out of groups, that something clicked. We felt that as long as we held our nerve and stuck to our game plan, there was nobody that could beat us.”
Beastmode was emphatic in his praise of both Saudi Arabia and Gamers8. He said: “I love it. It’s amazing. The people here are so kind. Saudi Arabia in general is amazing, so I’d love to come back. The format itself of Gamers8 is so different and so unique – it’s so fun and enjoyable. I love it.”
Gamers8: The Land of Heroes recap:
Gamers8: The Land of Heroes has a prize pool of $45 million – triple that of Gamers8 last year. The biggest gaming and esports festival worldwide features 16 elite esports tournaments from 13 top titles. There are also live concerts from top global, regional, and local artists, as well as numerous fun-filled activities and attractions for all the family.
The festival concludes with the Next World Forum, a gaming and esports forum held at the Four Seasons Hotel Riyadh at Kingdom Center on August 30-31, that brings together sector leaders and experts from around the world.
For further details, please see all the information available on the event website.
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