VGJ.Thunder announces Academy system, nurtures young Dota talents

Popular Chinese esports organization, VGJ.Thunder, has just announced plans to start nurturing potential Dota 2 talents through a new teaching system.

In a recent interview with Jack “KBBQ” Chen at the PGL Major, the Chinese Dota expert talked about his role as team director at VGJ.Thunder. In addition, he also revealed the team’s plan to create a talent search and nurturing system.

“We are looking for ways to sign and support players who want to go pro,” he said. “We want to be the gate, the ticket, to show them what it takes to be a pro, what difficulties you have to overcome.”

In addition to acting professionally, Chen revealed that the goal of the project is to help young players develop. “We want to give the players an opportunity to learn from our experience and relationships, to be able to ‘scrim’ and practice with us, possibly as a stand-in or sub as well. .”

“We want to support potential players who meet the standards and goals of the organization: in the process, we can help ourselves, but also change the young players so that they become become a pro. Even though you are no longer playing for the organization, we still think it will help the Dota community as a whole.”

Similar systems are playing out in other esports, especially commercial models (like League of Legends and Overwatch), the ‘academy’ system is still relatively new in Dota. So why just start now?

“We thought about it for a long time too,” explains Chen, “but from previous experience, of how Chinese teams work and large organizations try to generate new generation of talent, take Manage early, build loyalty… Judging the players is difficult from an outside perspective, because not everyone behaves consistently. you have to observe them from different environments to feel and weak points of each person.”

“VGJ.Thunder had another successful year with a different lineup and starting point, different from all the veteran rosters the organizations have built up since last year, and a lot of them from the system. President Vici. Yang is an example, he was always considered a top player but before that he came from VGP [VG.Potential]before that was Fade, Ayo… The system and structure in China are a bit different, but we think there are lessons that can be applied to the organization and taken advantage of.”

This is a promising move for VGJ and Dota in general. It creates a source of income for the players (and staff) to be able to live by the game, and helps attract young talent.