January 9 marks the beginning of the first SMITE World Championship tournament. Today, the world's top eight teams will compete in the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game for a prizepool well over $2,500,000.

For those that don't know, 'SMITE' is an online game where the player assumes the role of a mythological deity to fight others in an Mount Olympus-themed Conquest map. Teams of five players face-off in an attempt to reach the opposing side's Titan, and destroy it.

'SMITE' follows the similar format of other MOBA games, with jungle camps, short duration buffs, and the acquisition of gold used to make characters stronger. However, there is one exception - the player controls their character by means of the "WASD" keys from the third-person viewpoint.

This is unlike other MOBA style games wherein the gamer moves their character with mouse clicks from a camera that's locked in bird's-eye-view.

Moving along, SMITE World Championship 2015 is hosted by Hi-Rez Studios at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in Atlanta, Georgia, where eight teams from five regions will compete for the prize money.

This year, the World Champion team will receive roughly $1,286,909 for first place. Second place receives $514,763, third place gets $386,072, fourth - $257,381, and fifth through eighth places wins $32,172.

Since there is so much money involved and invested into the tournament, commentators will take viewers through the course of the matches, and provide them with the inside scoop about the teams.

In the early rounds of the tournament, the teams will face each other in bouts that are counted best out of one. After that, in the Quarter-Finals, the games will be played in a best out of three fashion to decide who's going to move on towards the finals.

Fans and non-fans alike can check out the tournament on their computers or smartdevices via Twitch.TV

For the live stream broadcast of the SMITE World Championship 2015, click here.