The 5th World Cyber Games Grand Final kicked off Wednesday evening at Singapore's Suntec Convention and Exhibition Center.

More than 700 gamers from 67 countries, including the games' first and only female player from Austria, will compete in the next four days for a prize pool of 435,000 US dollars.

"The World Cyber Games is the biggest e-sporting competition and symbolizes the pinnacle of cyber gaming for elite gamers," said Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapore Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, at the opening ceremony.

Such competition will help Singapore achieve its vision of developing itself as a hub for the games industry, according to the minister.

The Economic Development Board of Singapore also plans to bring in more video gaming tournaments like this World Cyber Games, which has attracted some 300 international journalists to the city state, Channel NewsAsia said.

Last year's World Cyber Games was held in San Francisco, the United States, which was the first time that the contest was held out of the Republic of Korea.

Source: Xinhua