So it’s a Thursday evening and it’s time for the weekly #esportsthoughts rant/paragraph/blog/whatever you want to call it. Here, I post things that can’t be published on Play on WASD or otherwise, due to the extremely casual/personal take that these things involve!
This week has been marked by different announcements, including the announcement of an amateur league for Dota 2 players in Southeast Asia, TNC and Havoc partnering up for a P100,000 tournament and the beginning of the reveals for the Electronic Sports and Gaming Summit (ESGS), among others. Looks like Esports in this country is going full stride. YAY!
And best thing is – I have my own blog on my own domain. Power to the people!
Now, those who know me personally will know that I don’t anymore spend much time in esports as I used to, simply because there is a lot of things that I need to do (i.e. teaching, writing non-esports stuff, traveling, improving qualifications, other plans, etc.) By extension, I just try my very best to write a good article once a week on average on Play on WASD and thus far, it has worked out pretty well; after all, I still love esports and I still watch a lot of Counter-Strike (ten hours a week, to be precise), which means that I am still updated on HOW THINGS GENERALLY WORK.
On another note, the local CS scene is blooming and I am happy to see that. I have no exact figures, as I am unable to track all the tournaments in the Philippine scene, especially the ones done by internet cafes, but I am pretty sure that tourneys here in the country have already reached a total prize pool of nearly P600,000, give or take.
Here’s the precise calculation, to be exact:
WASD TESL = P210,000
WASD Summer Leagues = P20,000*
Operation Havoc = P100,000
Havoc’s Minors = P20,000*
Zamboanga Esports League = P20,000
Esports Negrense League = P10,000
ASUS ROG Philippine CS:GO Qualifiers = P75,000
Game Over Invitational = P10,000
Estimated weight of the numerous cafe tourneys all over the country = P100,000*
This does not include the following:
MPGL CS:GO
ZOWIE Philippine Qualifiers
IeSF Philippine Qualifiers
A couple of other big-name tournaments which can’t be revealed or have been revealed already (and I forgot the name!)
Surprise tournaments by independent third-party organizers
In other words, the Counter-Strike ecosystem here in the Philippines is growing steadily and in a sustainable way, as these tournaments are not limited to the big cities, but are spread out to the provinces as well.
The future seems bright for the players and the big-name organizers. Hoping that it extends to the talents, writers and numerous other people who cover local CS pretty soon!
Can we reach a total pool of P1 million at the end of the year? Can WE HAVE MORE TEAMS BENEFIT from THIS RESURGENCE? Let’s see!
#PHCSRising
*Ballpark numbers. The pool has a margin of P1-5,000.
**Might even be higher, as there are a lot of cafes in the Philippines that do their own CS:GO tournaments.
