The insertion of esports as a medal event at the upcoming Southeast Asian Games has brought the genre to an all-new height of relevance in the region.
In a first for COMEX 2019, a brand new esports-centric event – Esports Festival Asia (EFA) – will make its debut in the IT show to grow the local esports scene. The brand new event was made possible through COMEX organiser Sphere Exhibits, the events arm of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), who is investing S$1 million in Esports Festival Asia.
Mr Chua Wee Phong, Chairman of Sphere Exhibits, highlighted the growing significance of the once niche community, and expressed his hopes that the targeted 500,000 strong crowd at COMEX 2019 will contribute to what is foreseen to be the start of something huge.
“With the launch today, we are hoping to grow into a much bigger arena. As we move along, the rest of South-East Asia will also be pulled in to join this entire league that we are trying to create,” said Mr Chua.
Four tournaments will run from 5 to 8 September during COMEX 2019; of which, a list of six different games will be played.
The first of those four tournaments is the Female Esports League (FSL). The league presents a platform for female representation within the normally male-dominated scene. Regional tournaments will be held from now till August 2019, where teams will be battle it out within two games: Arena of Valor and League of Legends.
The four winners from each game will then fly down to Singapore to compete in the final leg of the circuit, vying for a prize pool of S$2,500 per title at the EFA.
Next is eXTREMESLAND CS:GO Asia Open 2019, which returns for the fourth consecutive year. The EFA will be the location for the regional qualifier, and the winner will then travel to Shanghai to compete in the finals.
A massive US$100,000 prize pool is up for grabs for the finals, making the motivation to win the qualifier at the EFA even greater.
The China Mobile Esports League (CMEL) also makes a return since its official launch on 6 August 2018. The EFA will host the Singapore qualifier for the League of Legends tournament. The winning team will move on to represent Singapore and compete in the CMEL finals held in Chong Qing, China.
Lastly, the grand finals of EFA’s own Asia Champions Esports (ACE) League will be held at the event. The inaugural tournament pits teams across various popular games, including Mobile Legends, PUBG Mobile and Dota Underlords.
On the agenda for these teams is the combined prize pool of over S$20,000, but first, they must qualify through the offline and online qualifiers that will be held in the coming months.
The Esports Festival Asia will be located at Hall 605, Suntec Convention Centre Singapore and will be held from 12 pm to 9 pm. For more information, visit the official website: https://esportsfestival.asia/.
Visuals courtesy of Sphere Exhibits.
