According to TASS, the first multi-sport tournament “Games of the Future” will start in Kazan with competitions in phygital MOBA (Dota 2 + super final) at the Kazan Expo International Exhibition Center. The opening ceremony of the Games of the Future will be held there on February 21.

As expected, the Dota 2 competition caused a great stir among fans. On February 2, it became known that tickets for the tournament final were sold out in five minutes. Competitions for this type of program will be held from February 19 to 25. First, the teams will compete in a computer game, and then they will meet in reality in a special competition similar to Dota 2.

16 teams will take part in the Dota 2 competition, including teams from Russia, China, Peru, Iran and the Philippines. The Chinese team Azure Ray will be represented by the 2016 world champion Zhang Ruida (Faith Bian), two-time finalist of the world championship Xu Linsen (Fy), Zeng Jiaoyang (Ori), Lu Zhen (Lou) and Jiang An, whose in-game name depicts Chinese symbols, meaning in translation the word “fate”. And playing for their compatriots from Xtreme Gaming are world championship finalists Wang Chunyu (Ame) and Zhao Zixing (XinQ), as well as Guo Hongcheng (Xm), Lin Jing (Xxs) and Ding Cong (Dy). The teams are among the world leaders in their discipline.

Also performing at the tournament will be Entity (representatives of Kazakhstan, Belarus, Russia, Philippines), Winter Bear (representatives of Turkey, Iran, Russia), One Move (Russia, Belarus), LGD (China), Beastcoast (Peru), Neon Esports (Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, South Africa), Echpo4mak (Russia), Invictus Gaming (China, Malaysia), Liga Team (Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus), Boom Esports (Peru), Geek Fam (Philippines), PSG.Quest (Lebanon, Kazakhstan , Russia), Thunder Awaken (Peru, Bolivia), Hydra (Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Kazakhstan).

The group stage of the physical hockey tournament also starts at the Ice Arena. Ak Bars, Inter, Liga Pro Team, Phoenix, Barys Cyber Team, Baltic Select, Quetzales Mexico North AM, Cosmos X17 will take part in it. Each match will consist of two parts: in the digital part, the teams will play a hockey simulator, and in the physical part, they will identify the strongest on the hockey rink in the “3 on 3” format. The result of each match is determined based on the results of two stages: goals scored in the digital and physical parts are summed up.

On February 7, the press service of the Games of the Future announced that on February 22, after the semi-finals, a gala match would take place. Danis Zaripov, Evgeny Artyukhin, Maxim Afinogenov, Sergey Mozyakin, Alexander Semin, Vasily Koshechkin should play for the team of national hockey legends. Their opponents will be hockey players from Kazan children’s and youth sports schools.

Other competitions and preparation

The competition program also included phygital football (February 22 – March 3), phygital basketball (February 21-29), phygital racing (the tournament will be held in Sochi on 2-3 March), phygital combat (February 22-23), figital skateboarding (February 28 – March 3), Warface + laser tag (February 20-24), CS2 + laser tag (February 23-28), Standoff 2 + laser tag (February 27 – March 3), figital MOBA (MLBB + superfinal ) (February 26 – March 3), “World of Tanks” + super final (February 21-26), Speedrun + super final (February 28 – March 2), robot battle (February 24-26), drone racing (February 27-29), sports programming (February 28-29), dance simulator (February 25 – March 1), VR rhythm simulator (February 25 – March 1), cybathletics (February 22-23), physical BMX (February 28-29) and virtual cycling race (February 22)

Before the start of the official competitions, phygital games were held, which were test competitions for the Games of the Future. A total of 10 such tournaments took place, the first fidget games took place from September 21 to 23, 2022, the last ones from October 5 to 22, 2023.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko believes that the Games of the Future will help unite the sports community. “This is a global event, a Russian product that opens a new page in the history of sports,” said Chernyshenko. “The relevance of the product lies in the harmonious development of man, the physical and digital worlds are united in this concept. The tournament will help unite the sports community, it is technologically advanced, open, adaptability, the triumph of innovation in sports. The broadcast will create an immersive effect for fans all over the world, Russian developers allow physical competitions to be held at existing facilities, there is no need to build anything, the entry threshold is quite low.”

Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin believes that interest in the Games of the Future indicates the prospects of the project. “The Games of the Future is an innovative pioneering project, initiated by the Russian Federation,” he noted. “The project demonstrates harmony, development, motor activity, the triumph of physical qualities and at the same time the intellectual abilities of athletes, young people, their synergy. I am sure that this “The project has a great future. We are confident that it will arouse interest not only in the Russian Federation.”

Tatarstan Sports Minister Vladimir Leonov said that athletes from 107 countries will take part in the Games of the Future, 277 teams have entered the competition. He noted that in total more than 2 thousand participants will perform at the competition. Athletes and e-sportsmen will compete in 21 innovative disciplines (16 in the main program, 5 in the extended program).

About the Games of the Future

On November 14, it became known that the Firebird of the World will be the mascot of the first Games of the future. The mascot was created by students from Tatarstan and St. Petersburg State University. According to the authors’ idea, the Firebird of the World is a kind of neural network with consciousness, it consists of light and is a guide to the world of physical sports. In its appearance, the creators wanted to display harmony – in the center of the composition there is an energy beam, around which the balance between the physical and digital world is built.

The Games of the Future trophy made a motor rally, during which it visited Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Ulyanovsk, Samara, Ufa and Orenburg. On December 1, the trophy arrived at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, from where the capsule with the prize was launched to the International Space Station on the same day. The trophy is made of brushed metal and five acrylic plates, symbolizing the five challenges. Students from St. Petersburg State University and an architect from Kazan worked on the concept of the cup. The trophy, which will be awarded at the 2024 Games, will have the name of the discipline and the name of the winner or the name of the winning team at the bottom.

The Games of the Future will end on March 3, they will be held in new disciplines using modern technologies, the digital environment and physical activity. The competition format involves the use of the latest developments in the field of e-sports, robotics, augmented and virtual reality, information technology and artificial intelligence.