Thailand’s biggest Dota 2 tournament is the final ESL One for 2024

ESL FACEIT Group (EFG), the leading esports and video game entertainment company, today announced ESL One Bangkok 2024 powered by Intel, a US$1,000,000 Dota 2 tournament that will take place in Bangkok, Thailand, from December 9 to 15. 

Source: EFG. Poster for ESL One Bangkok 2024 powered by Intel.

Featuring twelve of the world’s best Dota 2 teams, this year marks the first time the global Dota 2 tournament has been hosted in Thailand. The tournament heralds the return of ESL One powered by Intel to the Asia-Pacific region after a successful iteration in 2023. Over 335,000* concurrent viewers tuned in online last year to watch Azure Ray win in front of a sold-out crowd in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

“We’ve had Bangkok and its amazing fans on our shortlist for some time, and are super excited to finally have the opportunity to be able to bring world-class Dota to this passionate fanbase,” said Tobias Fjellander, Product Manager, Dota 2 at ESL FACEIT Group. 

“We’re looking forward to welcoming Dota 2 fans from Thailand, Singapore and the region to Bangkok this December, for what’s set to be the biggest Dota 2 tournament ever hosted in the country.”

ESL One Bangkok 2024 powered by Intel will kick off with open qualifiers from November 11-14, followed by closed qualifiers on November 15-17. Eight teams from the closed qualifiers, along with four teams from the ESL Pro Tour leaderboard, will advance to the group stages, played out across December 9-11. The best eight teams from the group stages will advance to the playoffs, with the final three days of the playoffs held live in Royal Paragon Hall, Bangkok, December 13-15.

Details

Tickets to watch the ESL One Bangkok 2024 playoffs across December 13-15 are now available, with ticket prices starting at S$61 for three-day tickets. Premium add-on tickets, featuring an event goodie bag containing an event tee, mousepad and collectible coin, cost S$58. 

In addition to watching the playoffs live, ticket holders will also gain access to additional activities, including exclusive signing sessions with pro teams, a Dota 2 cosplay showcase featuring local cosplayers, and access to partner booths.

Fans can purchase tickets via https://esl-one.com/bangkok/.

Visit pro.eslgaming.com/tour/dota2/ for updates.

*According to escharts.com

Singtel announces Season 1 champions for PVP Esports Corporate Championship

Teams from Singapore and Indonesia have swept the championships in the corporate category of Singtel’s 2020 regional PVP Esports Community Championships (Season 1).

Singapore teams DeloitteOne (from Deloitte) and TurretHeist (DBS) took the top regional spots in the Corporate Championship for Dota 2 and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang respectively, while HZL Legion (RM Djamiah Putra) from Indonesia snagged the crown in PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG): Mobile. 

Each winning team walked away with over S$5,000 in cash and prizes.The grand finals, held over the weekend of 5-6 September, were organised as a fully-online event in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, with teams from the respective countries competing remotely from their homes.

The PVP Esports Community Championships (Season 1) attracted over 1,300 teams from Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, which battled for a combined prize pool valued at over S$70,000.

Cindy Tan, Head of Business & Marketing, Singtel’s International Group said: “During this period of COVID-19 and social distancing measures, the virtual world of e-sports and gaming has continued to thrive, bridging physical distances and offering a welcome form of entertainment when many of us might be housebound.

"We're pleased that the PVP Esports Community Championships have provided a platform to connect colleagues and schoolmates even in these unprecedented times, uniting them over their shared passion for gaming. With 5G on the horizon, digital entertainment offerings like esports will enable us to deliver even great experiences to our customers in the future. As Season 2 approaches, we look forward to more exciting e-sports action with new game Valorant and adding Brunei and Myanmar to our regional tournament. Congratulations once again to the Season 1 winners!”

As Tan has mentioned, gamers have more to look forward to in Season 2, with changes made to the game lineup and tournament categories. The PVP Esports Community Championships (Season 2) will introduce a new Open category, while Riot Games’ new first-person shooter PC game Valorant will make its PVP Esports debut, joining the perennial favourite Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.

The competition is also set to heat up across a wider swathe of the region. Participation is thrown open to two more countries, Brunei* and Myanmar, with a S$78,000 prize pool of cash and other prizes up for grabs.

Created by Singtel, PVP Esports is ASEAN’s first multigame, multicountry e-sports platform. Guided by its core values of passion, sportsmanship and healthy gaming, PVP Esports seeks to continually grow the regional esports ecosystem through its initiatives and tournaments.

In 2018, PVP Esports debuted with a professional championship and in 2019, introduced amateur e-sports leagues for the gaming community, launching the PVP Corporate League for working professionals across the region. In 2020, the league was rebranded the PVP Esports Corporate Championship.

Singtel is Asia's leading communications technology group, providing a portfolio of services from next-generation communication, technology services to infotainment to both consumers and businesses. For consumers, Singtel delivers an integrated suite of services, including mobile, broadband and TV. For businesses, Singtel offers a complementary array of workforce mobility solutions, data hosting, cloud, network infrastructure, analytics and cybersecurity capabilities. The Group has a presence in Asia, Australia and Africa and reaches over 700 million mobile customers in 21 countries. Its infrastructure and technology services for businesses span 21 countries, with more than 428 direct points of presence in 362 cities.

Source: Video playback of the PVP Esports Corporate Championship Season 1 finals for PUBG: Mobile. Screen grab of PUBG: Mobile gameplay.

 

Details:

Qualifiers will be held at the local level for each country from mid-October 2020, and the country champions will battle it out for the ultimate glory at the Season 2 Regional Finals in December 2020. Teams from Singapore can register now for Season 2. Registration closes on 18 October 2020 for the Open Championship.

Registration details for the other countries will be announced shortly. Check the website or Facebook for updates. Join their Discord channel.

PVP Esports Corporate Championship: Season 1 winners

Dota 2

Champion: DeloitteOne (Deloitte), Singapore

First Runner-up: Flyer (Telkomsel), Indonesia

Second Runner-up: San-U-sa (Advanced Info Service), Thailand

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang

Champion: TurretHeist (DBS), Singapore

First Runner-up: PGEsports (PetrokimiaGresik), Indonesia

Second Runner-up: Starlighters (Ace Saatchi & Saatchi), Philippines

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds: Mobile 

Champion: HZL Legion (RM Djamiah Putra), Indonesia

First Runner-up: XO Motor (XO Motor Limited Partnership), Thailand

Second Runner-up: Devilish Gaming (Blag Events Production), Singapore

*Brunei will only participate in the Open Championship.

Razer shares SEA Games e-sports live online

There were close to 2 million views on the e-sports livestreams on the first day of the e-sports events at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 2019), said Razer, reflecting high interest in e-sports in the region.

Source: Razer. Razer is the official e-sports partner for the SEA Games.

Razer, the global lifestyle brand for gamers, is the official e-sports partner for the SEA Games. The company made the e-sports event available online live in response to requests from fans to view the SEA Games remotely. The events are held at the San Juan Centre in Manila, Philippines, and are free to the public.


The SEA Games is an 11-country international sporting event sanctioned by the International Olympics Council, and the first to include esports as a medalled competitive discipline. The event features the following gaming titles: Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Arena of Valor, Dota 2, Starcraft II, Tekken 7 and Hearthstone.

Details:

Online streaming platforms include Facebook, YouTube and Twitch. Esports battles at the SEA Games will end on December 10.

View tournament schedules and livestreams
 
Follow updates on the Team Razer Facebook page, Team Razer Instagram page, and the Team Razer Twitter page.

Singapore takes steps to make esports pay

Source: SCOGA. From left: Matthias Beyer, Partnerships Lead, Southeast Asia at Twitch, Dennis Ooi, Honorary Secretary of (Singapore) Cybersports & Online Gaming Association (SCOGA), Kelvin Tan, President and Co-Founder of SCOGA, Nicholas Khoo, Chairman and Co-Founder of SCOGA, Raiford Cockfield III, Director of APAC Partnerships at Twitch, and Dr Charles Ling, COO, Informatics Education.

With esports exploding in popularity around the world, the (Singapore) Cybersports & OnlinGaming Association (SCOGA) has signed new agreements to expand the esports field for Singapore’s gaming community. The move is designed to identify and train gamers similar to how professional athletes are selected and nurtured, while developing more career opportunities for locals. There are competitive and broadcast elements to esports which do not exist in gaming - esports players compete for hard cash, and share their gameplay live with the world. This gameplay can also be monetised.

Khoo (left) and Dr Ling (right) signing the MoU with David Chua,CEO  of the National Youth Council in the background as a witness.

One of the agreements is with the Informatics Academy to launch an Esports Academy. Informatics, being one of the leaders in IT education, sees an opportunity in the esports industry and believes that good resource and management can help Singapore reap the benefits efficiently.

Kelvin Tan, President and Co-founder of SCOGA, which turns 10 this year said: “In our Esports Academy, we use competitive video games to teach skills such as leadership, team work and communications. We hope that this prepares them for the jobs of the future and help them achieve their aspirations. Recently, one of our academy trainees, Justin Bersamin drew more than 4,000 total views per session while streaming. Daryl Koh as known as iceiceice, the top Singaporean earner in esports has won over US$1 million in prize money.*”

The Esports Academy, supported by the National Youth Council, aims to build a career path for Singapore gaming enthusiasts by providing training to more than 2,000 Singapore youths in various aspects of esports, peak performance and soft skills. It will engage more than 50,000 youths initially through game festivals, events and academy programmes. 

Dr Charles Ling, Chief Operating Officer of Informatics Education said that Informatics is keen to collaborate with SCOGA in ways that nurture gamers while ensuring that youth do not miss out on academic pursuits. "We have gaming and animation tertiary education for students up to bachelors' degree level," he said. "While the kids are training themselves to be professional gamers there is an opportunity to see it from the other side, how the game is developed."

SCOGA, Informatics and Twitch, the global social video platform and community of choice for gamers and creators, point out that  just as in sports, the industry involves more than the players themselves. There are other careers in esports to aspire to in the ecosystem, such as becoming sportscasters and presenters, trainers and coaches for esports. Gamers can also consider building a career in coding or other aspects of game design.

Twitch, which attracts close to 10 million visitors from around the world each day, said each visitor spends an average of 106 minutes watching the platform daily. SCOGA and Twitch will co-create a talent development programme to fast track trainees to become Twitch Partners. Twitch Partners are able to monetise their content, earning a share of the revenue generated from all broadcasts from their channels. By enabling paid channel subscriptions, Partners can earn even more money from the same stream. 

Twitch will also create opportunities on its platform for talent development programme graduates and provide support for the National Esports League which is to be launched in the coming weeks. Raiford Cockfield III, Director of APAC Partnerships at Twitch said, “We are looking to support the region by investing in the Singaporean esports scene and by providing local content creators with the opportunity to make a living on our platform. The landscape is very competitive, but we see great potential in the local community and are really looking forward to working with serious local partners.”

Cockfield III noted that esports in the next couple of years could be a US$1 billion business with as many as 200 million viewers tuning in to watch those competing. According to Twitch, the opportunity in China was worth US$82 million in 2016, and US$112 million by 2019. In Korea, that opportunity is valued at US$7.4 million by 2019, up from US$8.2 million in 2016.

"Twitch is an important part of that shift from traditional media onto online streaming platforms," he said. "Seventy-two percent of esports fans feel Twitch is important to esports. We are already an important member of that crowd."

Cockfield III said Singapore has the right structure to really grow and lead esports in this region. "The Singapore network is already built for esports. It's built for Twitch. We already have servers in Singapore. We've already invested in Singapore and we believe it is the hub for Southeast Asia," he said. "Singapore is a breeding ground for more programmes in the future."

Cockfield III added that working with SCOGA is the best way to get involved locally. He said: "We are all about the community growing, period, we believe it's the best place and we are willing to compete."

Twitch plans to bring in professionals from overseas to teach Singapore Twitch users, from how to use supporting tools to taking advantage of social media, Cockfield III said.

Nicholas Khoo, Chairman and Co-Founder, SCOGA, shared that SCOGA has hosted more than 2 million gamers since its inception in 2008, and the interest continues with over 350 youths trained to date at the already soft-launched Esports Academy.

SCOGA will also collaborate with the NUS EI Lab and Emosis to test a brainwave-sensing wearable headband that can detect and monitor the user's anxiety levels in real time. Emosis is a startup that develops tech-related products for wellness and rehabilitation. It is working towards the development of a wireless anxiety management headband that both general consumers and sports professionals can wear to raise their competitive performance through anxiety management. 

Assistant Professor Raye Yeow, Head of EI Lab said allowing professional gamers to monitor their anxiety state in real-time, will give them greater awareness of their tension levels during gameplay. "This is expected to improve their performance, particularly in response to anxiety-inducing in-game events," he said.

Benjamin Pommeraud, GM - Singapore & Malaysia at Riot Games, developer of the highly popular League of Legends game, said: “It is fantastic to see SCOGA and the National Youth Council recognise the global impact of esports and nurture talented gamers in Singapore through a structured training curriculum.”

SCOGA is also in discussions with Spanish football club Valencia Club de Fútbol (VCF) to tap on their knowledge and experience of running a professional sports organisation and youth academy. VCF already has a Singaporean connection as Singapore billionaire Peter Lim has a controlling stake in the club. VCF also announced partnerships with a Singapore football club last year. 

VCF is no stranger to esports. It is the first club in the Spanish first division to have a dedicated esports section participating in various popular games. The collaboration will also see Singaporean gamers visiting VCF’s facilities and speaking with VCF staff involved in football training and esports programmes.

A good esports player can make as much as seven figures in revenue (US dollars) on Twitch. The top-earning 100 esports players today include people from Pakistan (no. 3), Australia, China, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. 

*Editor's note: Singapore player iceiceice is rated as no. 24 in the world in terms of earnings, so his wins are very high by global standards. According to the same site, the highest all-time earner took home over US$2.7 million. The figures are amounts accumulated over three years (2014 to 2016), rather than an annual amount, which may not work out to very much money when averaged out per month. In the list of top 100 Singapore esports earners, the top 100th player in Singapore received under US$3,000 - nothing to sneeze at, but certainly a far cry from $1 million. These figures however exclude monthly base earnings, which could be in the six digits.

Forecasts for esports are very positive however, and initiatives to boost the market could definitely develop it to the point where esports professionals can earn much more money. Deloitte Global predicts that esports will generate global revenues of US$500 million in 2016, up 25% from about US$400 million in 2015, and will likely have an audience of regular and occasional viewers of close to 150 million people. 

Interested?

Esports Academy will be offering classes officially from May. Khoo of SCOGA said that the association is in the beginning stages of working out a financially sustainable model. At present the fees have been under S$50 for up to eight hours of training.

The first national league will be available between May and July.

Read the Deloitte Global forecast for esports

Check out TechTrade Asia's blog post on esports in Malaysia