The UK’s first professional women’s gaming tournament of its kind starts on Saturday.

Four teams of professional players will compete first person shooter Valorant is the most-watched esports game in the women’s league.

It’s the first time Europe’s best teams have competed in the UK and organizers hope it will get more women into the game.

Host and streamer Meg ‘Megsoundslikeegg’ Gardner said: “The more people see that you can enjoy the game like a layperson, the more confident they will be and the more they will enjoy it. game.”

Players will compete in a two-day tournament LondonThe Red Bull Gaming Sphere prize pool is £15,000.

“It wasn’t as big of a deal as it is today,” says Michaela ‘mimi’ Lintrup, one of the best Valorant players in the world who has been playing professionally since she was 18.

The 26-year-old Dane added: “We play for a box of Red Bull or something like that, it’s not a rich prize pool. I just play because I’m passionate about it and I love it.”

But that all changed.

Last year, fans watched more than 28 million hours of professional women’s esports competitions, according to industry tracker Esports Charts. Competitions are often broadcast live on platforms such as Twitch, TikTok and YouTube.

These numbers don’t even include the number of people watching ChinaAt the 2023 Asian Games, eSports is so big that more people are watching eSports than traditional sports.

In esports, people compete in a variety of video games, and just like other sports, there are leagues, prizes, and legions of fans.

French player Mathilde ‘Nelo’ Beltoise, whose team is called Karmine Corp, said the level of fans in France was off the scale.

“Karmine Corp is so big, no matter where you go, people recognize you. Every time I walk down the street, I see someone wearing this jersey. It’s really big,” she said.

The popularity of her team in France made Bertois’s teacher parents enthusiastic about the idea of ​​her playing video games for a living.

“Sometimes one of their students is wearing a Karmine Corp jersey and they’ll say, ‘Is that you?’ Now they just love it,” she explained.

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Being a professional gamer means international travel and online streaming, which sounds glamorous, but it’s also a regular 9-to-5 job.

“We train Monday through Friday, but when we get closer to game time we add Sunday,” Lintrup said.

“We have four games a day, usually lasting 50 minutes. Then we can talk about the mistakes we made [for 10 minutes before the next one]. Then we had about an hour and a half of theory time. “

Lintrup is the captain in the G2 Gozen game and her role is very similar to that of a football captain.

“After practice, I usually do a live stream or review, which means I go back and watch our games and point out mistakes. I get to put in a little extra work. I like that,” she said.

British player Sarah Ahmed is 18 years old and comes from Derby. She has been playing professionally for six months and became interested in the game because of her older brother.

“He had a laptop and I didn’t, so when I was 16 I got my first computer and from then on I started playing games, just like my brother,” she said.

Now she’s traveling the world, recently competing in Türkiye’s first mixed-gender championships. She describes the moment she discovered the female gaming scene in Valorant.

“When I was younger, none of my friends played video games, so every time I played I was by myself and it was hard to get a girlfriend.

“So when I saw there was a big community and a lot of girls playing, I wanted to be a part of it.”

Valorant was released during the coronavirus lockdown, which saw a surge in people playing video games. Host Meg Gardner believes it’s more popular with women because it tells stories.

“Valorant is very inclusive, so you see a lot of female characters who are not just support characters but very powerful people in the game. People want to choose them to play with,” she said.

The Red Bull Instalock Championship will be broadcast live on Twitch on Saturday and Sunday at 12pm UK time.