Roughly 700 players from over 120 countries are expected to compete at the World Esports Championships hosted by Iasi, eastern Romania, between August 24 and September 4. The event, organized by the City Hall within the Digital Throne festival, offers total prizes of EUR 500,000.

Iasi mayor Mihai Chirica and Sebastian Burduja signed this week a collaboration protocol between the City Hall and the Ministry of Digitization to organize the World Esports Championship in Iasi.

"I am thrilled that we can show the world that Iasi will be the Esports capital by organizing this mega event. We already have over 2 million people who have started qualifying for this event in the national competition stage. Next week we start the continental qualifiers. I'm happy to tell you that we already have 109 countries qualified for this event with which we will break all records," said Vlad Marinescu, president of the International Esports Federation.

Mayor Mihai Chirica said: "We expect Iasi to become highly visible at the international level, and the hospitality industry and the entire community to benefit [from this event]. As usual, we will try to be good hosts so everyone who comes or learns about Iasi will talk about us as a real capital."

This year, in addition to the largest esports championship ever organized in Romania, Iasi will host two important summits dedicated to electronic sports. One of them is the Romanian summit, which will take place in June, and the other is the European one, organized by the European Esports Federation, which will take place towards the end of the year.

In addition, the Iasi City Hall announced that it is discussing with the European Esports Federation to move the headquarters of the federation to Iasi, starting in 2024.

"Our vision of Iasi as a digital city and esports and gaming center is taking shape more and more," said deputy mayor Daniel Juravle.

Digital Throne is a 10-day festival (August 24 - September 4) that launches, on an international level, Iași's strategy to become a global capital of digital sports, art, education and entertainment, the City Hall said. Its central point will be the Palace of Culture, featuring three stages dedicated to esports competitions, a main stage for concerts and an area dedicated to video mapping projections.

Also, Digital Throne will bring Comic Con to Iasi, an event dedicated to fans of comics, animations, video games, and TV series.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Facebook/Primaria Municipiului Iasi)