Asia

Gaming Matters: From the bedroom to the boardroom

Published

6 years ago

August 1, 2018

Zoltan Tundik

Photo source: wfanet.org

Reading Time: 5 minutes

The Online Gaming Industry Comes of Age

Branded and Singapore’s Cybersports & Online Gaming Association (SCOGA) are delighted to announce that some of the biggest names from the world’s online gaming industry will be joining them in Singapore at the forthcoming All That Matters conference, including speakers from:

Twitch, ESL / Turtle Entertainment, Riot Games, PUBG, Alisport, AirAsia, Bandai Namco, Ubisoft, Dare Mighty Entertainment, Mineski International Group, Makers Fund, Mighty Bear Games, BITREP, Global Electronic Sports Championship (GESC), SCOGA, LIVEME, and many more!

At more than US$135 billion a year globally, the gaming industry is bigger than Hollywood. (Source: Newzoo and Statista)

The gaming industry is exploding in Asia. Whether it is mobile gaming, video gaming, consoles, AR, VR or esports, Asia holds the brightest future for gaming.

Recently, Tencent’s ‘WeGame’ announced that it will take its gaming platform global to expose Western gamers to Chinese titles. In another development, Singtel launched a multi-title and regional esports league. AirAsia too is catching on the wave of esport with sponsorship of World Electronic Sports Games in ASEAN and esports is being included as a demonstration sport at the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta.

Gaming is now an economic driver for Asia, employing an entire ecosystem of developers, publishers, streaming platforms, distributors, social networks, brand partners, leagues and digital athletes.

China alone accounted for US$27 billion in gaming revenue last year and is estimated to grow to US$35 billion by 2021. Southeast Asia will contribute another US$4 billion from some 400 million gamers by the same year.

Kevin Lin, Co-founder of Twitch and speaker at All That Matters 2017 and again in 2018, said: “Live online gaming is booming and if a brand wants to be global they can’t ignore Asia. Gaming Matters has very rapidly become the go-to event for the Asia Pacific gaming business and I’m looking forward to joining them again.”

Jasper Donat, CEO of organisers Branded said: “Gaming is the ongoing hot story in 2018. It has moved from the bedroom to the boardroom with new businesses fighting it out with some of the world’s largest tech and entertainment companies for a slice of the ever growing pie. The virtual experience is today’s reality and no one in the sports, media and entertainment industry can afford to miss out.”

Added Donat: “We are super excited to spearhead this discussion through our Gaming Matters track at All That Matters 2018. Now is the time for gaming. Now is the time for Asia. Now is the time for any marketer seeking to expand into this new form of entertainment, connect with young audiences and drive new revenue streams.”

Nicholas Khoo, Chairman & Co-Founder of SCOGA and Gaming Matters Programming Lead for 2018 said: “Esports is becoming first for digital natives and has experienced phenomenal growth both globally and in Asia. Defying all odds to be part of the Asian Games, esports is definitely here to stay as we witness an intriguing confluence of video games, sports, and media. A number of the movers and shakers of both gaming and esports are joining us on stage this year and it is definitely going to be explosive!”

After the successful introduction of Gaming Matters in 2016, All That Matters 2018 is bringing an even bigger and better line-up of gaming giants such as ESL, Twitch, Ubisoft, PUBG, Riot Games and Bandai Namco, who will share deep insights on the rising force of Asia in the gaming industry.

The confirmed (and growing!) list of speakers at Gaming Matters includes:

Ralf Reichert, CEO, ESL / Turtle Entertainment GmbH
Changhan (CH) Kim, CEO & Executive Producer, PUBG Corporation
Jason Fung, Global eSports Director, Alisports, Alibaba Group
Kevin Lin, Co-Founder, Twitch
Linda Li, Content General Manager, LIVEME
Chris Tran, Country Manager – SEA, Riot Games
Ronald Robins, Founder & CEO, Mineski International Group
Francois Logeais, Senior Producer, Ubisoft Pte Ltd
Allan Phang, Allstars Engagement & Internal Branding, People & Culture, AirAsia (Group)
Jennifer Poulson, SVP Marketing, Bandai Namco
Lee Trink, President, Dare Mighty Entertainment (Faze Clan)
Nguyen Hoang Vinh, Head of esports, Ex-Garena Vietnam
Michael Cheung, Partner, Makers Fund
Simon Davis, CEO, Mighty Bear Games
Raiford Cockfield III, CEO, BITREP
Warren Colbert, Head of Growth, Twitch
David Ng, Founder, Go Game
Amy Ruktanonchai, CEO, Chimera Co.
Oskar Feng, Founder, Global Electronic Sports Championship (GESC)
Sammie Kang, Community Lead, North America, PUBG Corporation

All That Matters, Asia’s leading Business2Business2Fan event will be held at Ritz-Carlton Millenia from 7 – 12 September, 2018. Conference by day, music festival by night, All That Matters will bring together Asia’s leading music, sports, gaming, digital and marketing pioneers to share what it means to build fans and build brands to engage audiences in the fast-paced, digitally-connected world of entertainment.

Companies featured at this year’s All That Matters include AirAsia, Alibaba, Amazon, Cathay Pacific, China Sports Media, CMC Holdings, Empire, ESL, F1, Facebook, FOX Sports, Globe Telecom, Go-Jek, Google, INgrooves, J&J, Live Nation, Lufthansa, McDonalds, Mediacorp, Microsoft, Mission Hills, NBA, Netflix, Ogilvy, ONE Championship, Perform, Philips, PUBG, Riot Games, Spotify, Standard Chartered, Singapore Tourism Board, Telkom Indonesia, Tencent, Twitch, Twitter, Ubisoft, Unilever, Universal Music, Viacom, VICE, Warner Music, YouTube and many more.

For a full list of speakers at the festival, please view our website www.allthatmatters.asia.

About All That Matters

The All That Matters festival returns to Singapore in September after a record breaking year in 2017 with more delegates, more speakers, more live music and more networking than ever before.

Conference by day at the Ritz-Carlton Millenia (September 10-12) and music festival by night at various locations across Singapore (September 7-12), All That Matters continues to be recognised as Asia’s leading entertainment industry conference and the gateway to the Asian music, sports and entertainment industry, hosted the week preceding the Formula 1 2018, Singapore Grand Prix.

The event is attended by over 1500 industry executives, content providers, tech innovators, global brands and thousands of music fans from around the world. It is the meeting point for the most influential players and the programme reflects the convergence of the global entertainment business.

Join us to hear from over 30 keynotes and 150 expert speakers, and make thousands of business connections across the five tracks of Music, Sports, Gaming, Digital and Marketing.

About Singapore’s Cybersports & Online Gaming Association (SCOGA)

Singapore’s Cybersports & Online Gaming Association is one of the most trusted esports organisation in Singapore with more than 10 years of history. It seeks to build and serve the local ecosystem through various initiatives in education, industry partnerships, and marquee events. Signature initiatives include an esports academy supported by the National Youth Council and a full time diploma in partnership with Informatics Academy. SCOGA recently hosted Asia Game Festival and the Asia Football Gaming Championship as part of Singapore Football Festival. Millions have turned up for SCOGA’s events both in person and on twitch.tv/scoga

About Branded

Branded creates and produces live media that matters, connecting businesses, brands, celebrities and fans through large and small scale events including the YouTube FanFest global tour, It’s A Girl Thing and the “Matters” B2B festivals covering music, sports, gaming, digital and marketing.

Specialising in the media, entertainment and sports industries in Asia, Branded was founded in 2002 and has been recognised as a “Top 10 Event Marketing Agency” by Marketing Magazine and is a two-time winner of the prestigious Singapore Experience Best Trade Event of the Year award.

Branded excels in the conceptualisation, programming, organisation, and production of dynamic conferences, live music festivals, educational academies, and fan events in Asia. Branded is an independent company staffed by passionate multi-cultural, multi-lingual and multi-talented individuals with offices in Hong Kong and Singapore and affiliations reaching all corners of the world.

Branded key contacts:

Jen Bennett (Sponsorship/Sales enquiries): [email protected]
Ami Vora (Trade & Media Partnerships/Delegate enquiries): [email protected]
Kathy Brewin (Programming enquiries): [email protected]
Sammy Shirra-Moore (Music Matters festival enquiries): [email protected]

Press enquiries:

Madhavi Tumkur (Enterprise PR & Marketing): [email protected] / Ph: +65 9787 5221

Asia

Team ATK Oshun excels at 2024 Online Championships held on 13 April 2024

Published

2 days ago

April 18, 2024

Adrienn Sarkany

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Mind Sports South Africa’s (MSSA) 2024 Online Championships held on 13 April 2024 showed sterling results.
The championship was yet another chance for many esports athletes to qualify for MSSA’s National Team Trials to be held on 25 May 2024 at which the team will be selected to officially represent South Africa at the African Qualifiers which lead up to IESF’s 16th World Esports Championships to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in October and November 2024..

All Registered Players who have finished in the top three places, or the top 20% – whichever is greater, are entitled to enter trials.

However, it must be remembered that all players must have a valid passport to participate in the National Team Trials.

It was indeed exciting to watch just how much all the female teams have improved.

Team ATK Oshun (ATK Club Sport) being a female team astounded all with their skill and sportsmanship. The team demolished all ATK Club Sport opposition to ultimately won the premier event overall and qualify for the National Team trials to be held on 25 May 2025.

IESF’s 15th World Championships will be played to the following titles:

Counter-Strike 2
Counter-Strike 2 – Female division
DotA 2
eFootball
Mobile Legends, Bang Bang
Mobile Legends, Bang Bang – Female division
PUBGM

The high standard of play saw 37 Registered Players from six provinces being awarded Provincial Colours. Only Limpopo, Free State, and Northern Cape did not have Registered Players who did not earn provincial colours.

Title	Name of player/team	Club	Provincial Colours awarded
Clash Royale – Premier	Johan Coetzee	Middies	Mpumalanga
Clash Royale – High School	Aryan Maharaj	PR0NHS
Counter Strike: 2	ATK Oshun
	Kaylee Ludick	ATK Club Sport	Gauteng
	Jessica Eleez Greeff	ATK Club Sport	Gauteng
	Christin Brazier	ATK Club Sport	Gauteng
	Megan van der Westhuizen	ATK Club Sport	Gauteng
	Kayhla Rose Calder	ATK Club Sport	Gauteng
DotA – Premier	ZAG DOTA 1
	Suhail Khan	ZAG Academy	Gauteng
	Travis John Waters	ZAG Academy	Western Cape
	Mark Kilian Lehle	ZAG Academy	Gauteng
	Mohammad Dhooma	ZAG Academy	Eastern Cape
	Nicholas Dammert	ZAG Academy	Gauteng
eFootball – Premier	Aslam Parker	PES Society	Gauteng
FIFA 24 – High School	Daiyaan Hendricks	PES Society	Western Cape
Mobile Legends – Premier	Mavericks
	Matthew Tatalias	Mavericks	Gauteng
	Damian Bransby	Mavericks	Western Cape
	Preshan Pillay	Mavericks	Gauteng
	Mohammad Azhar Ansari	Mavericks	KwaZulu Natal
	Taygan Gabriel	Mavericks	KwaZulu Natal
	Luke Green	Mavericks	Western Cape
Mobile Legends – Premier – Female	AHG
	Je’nielle Cavanagh	PES Society	Western Cape
	Inez Pringle	PES Society	Western Cape
	Salma Parker	PES Society	Western Cape
	Ra’isha Prout	PES Society	Western Cape
	Fatimah Prout	PES Society	Western Cape
	Mia Anthony	PES Society	Western Cape
PUBGM	Team uEnvy
	Richard Henry	ZAG Academy	Eastern Cape
	La-eeq Arendse	ZAG Academy	Western Cape
	Kyle Dudley	ZAG Academy	Western Cape
	Clayton Leak	ZAG Academy	Western Cape
Rocket League – Premier – 1 v 1 – Premier	Nathan Strange	Hoërskool Klerksdorp
Rocket League – Premier – 1 v 1 – High School	Luther Peens	Hoërskool Klerksdorp
Street Fightter V – Premier	Marnus van der Merwe	Hoërskool Klerksdorp	North West
Tekken 8	Stasch Cloeta	Team PlayBell	Western Cape
Valorant – Premier	TuksValorant
	Tapiwanashe Keith Matema	TuksEsports	Gauteng
	Kyle Halvorsen	TuksEsports	Gauteng
	Jaden Connor Swarts	TuksEsports	Gauteng
	Ronald James Tyler Wheeldon	TuksEsports	Gauteng
	Alejandro Luca Sartini-Kruger	TuksEsports	Gauteng
	Armand Pierre van der Colf	TuksEsports	Gauteng
Sportsmanship Award	Je’nielle Cavanagh	PES Society

Asia

PAGCor Welcomes Lawyer Wilma Eisma as New President and Chief Operating Officer

Published

2 days ago

April 18, 2024

Alan Campbell

Reading Time: < 1 minute

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCor) today welcomed its new President and Chief Operating Officer, lawyer Wilma Eisma, who took her oath of office before Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin in Malacanang this morning.

“We are happy to welcome Atty. Wilma Eisma as PAGCor’s new President and Chief Operating Officer,” PAGCor Chairman Alejandro Tengco said. “We know she will be a great asset and her vast experience in both the government and private sectors will surely be put to good use here.”

Tengco said he witnessed Eisma’s oath-taking in Malacanang this morning. She then immediately joined her first PAGCor board meeting in the afternoon as the agency’s first ever woman President and Chief Operating Officer.

A lawyer by profession, Eisma earned her law degree from the Ateneo de Manila University and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Development Bank of the Philippines before joining the state gaming firm.

Prior to that, she also served as the first woman Administrator and Chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).

Her private sector stints include leadership roles in PMFTC Incorporated, the Philippine affiliate of Philip Morris International.

She also held key positions at the Department of Trade and Industry where she worked at the Office of the Secretary and in the Office of the Majority Leader in the House of Representatives, among others.

Eisma succeeded Atty Juanito Sanosa Jr who resigned as PAGCor President and Chief Operating Officer last January.

Asia

Maharashtra Government rewards state’s Asian Games 2022 Esports athletes with INR 10 lakhs; marks historic moment for Indian Esports

Published

2 days ago

April 18, 2024

Adrienn Sarkany

Reading Time: 2 minutes

In a groundbreaking move, the Directorate of Sports and Youth Services of the Government of Maharashtra has rewarded a significant amount of INR 10 lakhs to each Esports athlete of the state who represented India in the Asian Games 2022, held in Hangzhou. This marks a historic moment for Indian Esports, as it is the first time any state has included Esports alongside mainstream sports in prize money rewards for its state players in a major tournament. The recipients of this monetary reward include Darshan Bata, captain of the DOTA 2 team, along with his teammates Krish Gupta, Ketan Goyal, and Shubham Goli, as well as League of Legends athlete Samarth Trivedi.

Expressing his gratitude, Darshan Bata, the captain of the DOTA 2 team who hails from Mumbai, said, “I would like to express my sincere thanks to ESFI and the Maharashtra government for honoring us and recognizing and supporting Esports.”

Esports made its debut as a full-fledged medal event at the Asian Games 2022, where a total of 476 athletes from 30 different countries competed for gold medals across seven titles. India participated in four of these titles, including DOTA 2, EA Sports FC Online, League of Legends, and Street Fighter V: Champion Edition.

“It has been a great experience at Asian games, I am grateful for the support I received from the Maharashtra government and I really appreciate the efforts ESFI has contributed to our journey,” stated Ketan Goyal of Pune who was a part of the DOTA 2 team at the Asian Games 2022.

The talented Indian contingent for the Asian Games was sent by Esports Federation of India (ESFI), who had organized open for all nationwide online qualifiers to select the best and most deserving athletes to compete for the nation at the tournament.

“Really happy to see that Esports is getting recognized and we are being aided by the government. Thank you for the support to Maharashtra Government and a big shoutout to ESFI for giving us this opportunity to represent India in the Asian games,” highlighted Krish Gupta of Pune, a member of the Indian DOTA 2 team.

The League of Legends team, in particular, achieved a historic fifth-place finish at the 19th Asian Games after competing against top-tier teams from around the continent.

“I am really grateful to the Maharashtra government for providing us with the financial support. It is amazing to see Esports being recognized by the Government. A huge shoutout to ESFI for giving us the opportunity and platform to compete at the Asian Games 2022 in Hangzhou,” commented Samarth Trivedi of Thane who played a pivotal part in the country’s performance in League of Legends at the tournament.

Prior to the 19th Asian Games, India had also secured a remarkable bronze medal at the Commonwealth Esports Championships in DOTA 2, showcasing the country’s prowess in video gaming on the international stage.

“Thank you ESFI and team for all you support throughout Asian games 2022. We are really blessed and honored by Maharashtra Government for supporting Esports players and considering Esports in events like Commonwealth and Asian Games,” noted Shubham Goli, a resident of Pune who represented India at both the Commonwealth Esports Championships as well as the Asian Games 2022 in DOTA 2. The latest FICCI-EY report titled ‘#Reinvent: India’s media & entertainment sector is innovating for the future, India is expected to have 20 international teams by 2024.

The Maharashtra government’s recognition and support of Esports signals a significant milestone in the journey towards mainstream acceptance of competitive gaming as a legitimate sport in the country.