ESL One is kicking off 2017 with a 'Dota 2' tournament in Malaysia

ESL One is bringing Dota 2 back to Southeast Asia, pitting eight of the best teams from around the world against each other Jan. 6-8 in Genting, Malaysia.

The premiere tournament has a prize pool of $250,000 and will consist of a mix of invited teams, internationally qualified teams and a hometown Malaysian team. The competitors have not yet been announced.

While the three-day event will be available to view online with services like Twitch, the LAN is taking place at the Arena of Stars in Genting, which can hold around 5,000 fans at once. Last year's ESL One Manilla in the Phillipines was held in an arena capable of holding 15,000 fans for sporting events but only saw 16,000 over the course of the tournament. The smaller arena is likely a better fit for the audience.

Dota 2 is the most popular PC game in Southeast Asia, according to games market research firm Newzoo. About 10.5 million gamers in the region have played Dota 2 in the past six months.

ESL One Genting will be the fourth premier Dota 2 tournament to take place in Southeast Asia. The first took place in late 2015. With more tournaments taking place in the area, including a $3 million Major competition earlier this year, the region could see an upswing in esports viewership and participation.

Fnatic, one of the top Dota 2 teams in the world, formed in 2015 and currently fields a mix of Malaysian and Philippine players. Meanwhile, other local teams continue to pop up, including Mineski-X and Who2Bet.

The first ESL One tournament took place in Frankfurt, Germany in 2014, and was only the seventh tournament to offer a six-figure prize pool aside from the Dota 2 International tournaments. ESL One now hosts two Dota 2 tournaments per year, although we could be seeing more next year.