Asia
Esports Integrated (ESI) Announces the Success of Malaysia Esports League 2021 (MEL21) and the Closing of MEL21 National League (Nationals)

Esports Integrated (ESI), an initiative under the purview of the Ministry of Youth & Sports (KBS), today announces the successful organisation and completion of Malaysia Esports League 2021 (MEL21) Nationals. The inaugural nationwide esports league for grassroots was held in 2 stages; State Leagues on 10 July till 8 August 2021 and Nationals on 14 August till 31 August 2021.
A total of 288 players from 64 teams representing 13 states and 3 Federal Territories competed in MEL21 Nationals in 4 game titles; PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Mobile (PUBGM), Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB), EA Sports FIFA21 and Dota 2. Winners of each category brought home RM20,000 prize money, champion’s medal and the title of MEL21 National Champion. MEL21 was organised by ESI in collaboration with 16 state esports associations. Almost 30,000 local grassroot players registered for the fully virtual competition, held in accordance with the SOPs set under the National Recovery Plan – Phase 1.
For PUBGM, matches were held on 14, 15, 16 August with 22 August 2021 as the Final match day. 15 rounds were held throughout 4 tournament days using point system format, competing in 3 maps, Sanhok, Erangel and Miramar. Team Farang Guerrilla from Selangor emerged victorious, with the highest kill count of 13 during Final day. Team Farang Guerilla consists of Adib Syazwan bin Abd Razak (team captain), Nur Muhammad Safiuddin bin Abdul Jabar, Muhammad Abbas bin Saufi and Mohammad Helmi Eizlan bin Mohammad Ehsan.
For Dota 2, group matches were held on 17 & 18 August 2021. All 16 teams were split into 4 groups competing in a league format in “Best of 1” matches before moving into knockout rounds. “Best of 3” matches were held during the knockout rounds, with 4 league group winners progressing into Upper Bracket, whilst 4 teams with the highest points moving into Lower Bracket. Team Thanks from Sarawak emerged victorious in the final match against ANIMALS from Selangor, coming back from 2-0 deficit to win the match in the fifth game with the score line of 2-3. Team Thanks consists of Benedict Chin Kuok Hong (team captain), Nelson Chin Kuok Chiat, Raymond Then Wan Jia, Nicholas Chin Kuok Chun and Low Kin Siong.
For FIFA21, matches were held on 20, 21 August with 27 August as the Final Playoffs. 16 players were split into 4 groups during the initial league round before winners from each group progressed into the knockout stage during Final Playoffs. Kedah’s Muhammad Faiz Hariry (AKA OrangeFavLain) emerged as the champion, beating Perak’s Kamil Al Amini bin Jamalludi Al Amini (AKA MAXNEVIS) with golden goal in Game 3, after both players were tied in 3-3 in Game 1 & 2.
For MLBB, matches were held on 23, 24 and 30 August, before culminating in the Final Playoffs on 31 August 2021. 16 teams were split into 4 groups during the initial league stage before winners of each group progressed into the Upper Bracket knockout round and 4 teams with the highest points moving to Lower Bracket knockout round. Penang’s Cyduken emerged victorious over Terengganu’s Mikey with a score line of 3-0. Cyduken consists of Aiman Zairie bin Anuar (team captain), Muhammad Hakim bin Adanan, Muhammad Nabil bin Japri, Ahmad Zaki bin Ibrahim and Mohamed Aiman Solihin bin Mohamed Iqbal.
“With the success of the inaugural MEL, KBS through ESI are planning to continue hosting it on an annual basis to continue to support grassroots development of the esports ecosystem in Malaysia,” said Ahmed Faris Amir, the Chief Executive Officer of ESI.
“In the future edition of MEL, we hope to have more female players participating and that MEL will be more racially diverse as well,” he added to the media when asked about MEL improvement plans during the press conference.
All matches were livestreamed on the national esports tournament platform, esukan.gg and ESI’s Facebook page. A total of 2.2 million video minutes were viewed, and 700,000 total views were recorded throughout MEL21 Nationals. This exemplifies the local esports community’s appetite for exciting and competitive tournaments for the grassroots. The number of views exceeded ESI’s initial projection of 100,000 views.
Asia
Continent 8 Technologies continues global expansion with two key hires in Asia

Lalaine P. Vidal joins award-winning infrastructure provider as Business Development Manager and Christopher Caturay as Technical Solutions Architect
Continent 8, the award-winning global managed hosting, connectivity and security provider, continues to build out its presence in Asia with two key hires.
Lalaine P. Vidal joins as Business Development Manager and Christopher Caturay as Technical Solutions Architect. Both will be based out of the Philippines and will be responsible for supporting the company’s growing customer base across the region.
Vidal has more than a decade of experience in sales and marketing across a range of sectors including banking, BPO, real estate, telco and IT cyber security. Caturay is a cyber security professional with experience in the end-to-end process of deploying solutions and applying best practices for various businesses and in a range of sectors.
The hires form part of a wider push in Asia, where Continent 8 already offers infrastructure, connectivity and security solutions to a range of customers in iGaming and beyond.
The company’s cyber security offering has seen exceptional growth in recent years, keeping up with the evolving cyber security landscape, and with cyber-attacks at an all-time high in Asia, Continent 8 can defend a customers’ infrastructure against the growing number of threats.
Lalaine P. Vidal, Business Development Manager at Continent 8 Technologies, said: “The opportunity to join Continent 8 was one I simply couldn’t turn down. It is the leading infrastructure provider in the industry, and I am looking forward to using my experience in sales and marketing to drive the business forward and further establish its presence and customer base across Asia.”
Christopher Caturay, Technical Solutions Architect at Continent 8 Technologies, said: “Asia presents unique challenges when it comes to infrastructure and cyber security. I’m excited to be working for a business that has a comprehensive and unique solution for businesses targeting the Asian market.”
Peter Williams, Managing Director – Asia Pacific at Continent 8 Technologies, added: “Lalaine and Christopher are great talents and are a brilliant addition to the Continent 8 team in Asia. This is an important market for us and one where we have ambitious growth plans that we are actively deploying.
“Lalaine will play a vital role in introducing more businesses to Continent 8 and the award-winning solutions that we provide, while Christopher will ensure that customers are deploying the right products and services for their organisation. This localised approach, along with having feet on the ground, is what makes Continent 8 the go-to infrastructure and security provider for companies targeting Asia and other markets around the world.”
Via network points of presence in Hong Kong, Japan (Tokyo), Philippines (Manila), Singapore and Taiwan (Taipei), Continent 8 connects Asia to the rest of the world over a high-capacity, fully redundant private network comprising 90+ locations.
Meet the Continent 8 team at ASEAN Gaming Summit, 21-23 March 2023 at the Manila Marriott Hotel.
Asia
Removal of Hearthstone as Contested Esports Title At Hangzhou Asian Games 2023

The seven official events, and publishers, are:
1. Arena of Valor Asian Games Version
2. Dota 2
3. Dream Three Kingdoms 2
4. EA SPORTS FIFA branded soccer games
5. League of Legends
6. PUBG Mobile Asian Games Version
7. Street Fighter V
“It is unfortunate to hear that Hearthstone will not be included in the upcoming Asian Games, especially because India’s first Esports medal at the tournament came in this very title in 2018 when Tirth Mehta clinched the bronze medal. That achievement holds a special place in our Esports community and we were hopeful that our talented athletes Shikhar Choudhary and Karthik Varma would be able to bring similar honour to the country by competing in this official medal sport.
Nonetheless, we respect the OCA’s decision and remain confident that our athletes will perform at the highest level in the other titles to make the country proud. We look forward to supporting them as they represent India in the prestigious tournament.”
Asia
SuperGaming To Bring India’s Leading Gaming YouTuber Techno Gamerz as Playable Character in New Game

Leading international game developer SuperGaming has partnered with Techno Gamerz aka Ujjwal Chaurasia to bring him as a character in its soon to be revealed game. With over 30 million subscribers, Techno Gamerz is one of India’s biggest YouTubers. He has about 9 billion views on YouTube until now through a variety of gaming content ranging from tutorials to web series.
As the poster child for gaming in India, Ujjwal will help SuperGaming make its games better for young Indian audiences. He will feature in the company’s soon to be announced game with his appearance as a playable character as well as providing valuable insights and feedback to SuperGaming.
“With more than 70 percent of his audience being the young demographic in India, partnering with Techno Gamerz was the obvious choice,” says Roby John, co-founder and CEO of SuperGaming. “With Techno Gamerz as a playable character in our soon to be revealed game, we’re bringing a new way for fans to interact with their favourite creators and creators to build a closer connection with their fans.”
SuperGaming will also host several on-ground events based on its games, allowing fans of Techno Gamerz and other creators to meet them in person. This is an evolution of how SuperGaming has crafted its biggest hits — MaskGun and Silly Royale. Popular multiplayer shooter MaskGun has amassed over 67 million players since its launch.
This is due to a relentless focus on putting its players frst with consistent community collaborations, even leading to some of its biggest community members featuring in-game as well as celebrating India-specifc events like Diwali.
Similarly, the recently released social deduction game Silly Royale has over 22 million players in no small part thanks to regular community and content creator initiatives. The company hopes to do the same for its future releases through this partnership with Techno Gamerz.
SuperGaming has more than 300 million players across its games with an audience that spans the globe. Its recent hits include MaskGun and Silly Royale. SuperGaming is also developing Indus, an upcoming Indo-Futuristic battle royale for mobile, PC, and consoles as well as several yet to be revealed titles. All of these are built on its SuperPlatform powered by Google Cloud.
“When SuperGaming approached me with the idea of featuring me in its soon to be revealed game, I was genuinely surprised with the team’s passion and expertise,” says Techno Gamerz aka Ujjwal Chaurasia. “I believe that the future of gaming is creator-driven and community-first and this is a step in building that future.The team is on the same wavelength as me and I can’t wait to tell you more in the days to come.”
“Gaming and content creation have always been two sides of the same coin and now we’re bringing the best of both worlds together through this partnership,” says Pranav Panpalia, founder, OpraahFx, the talent agency that manages Techno Gamerz. “The fact that SuperGaming chose to approach Techno Gamerz speaks volumes about how creators have evolved to be the new celebrities the gaming community follow and look up to.”
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