A few years ago, Brazilian footballer and Puskas award-winner Wendell Lira shocked the world when he quit the game to become a professional FIFA gamer! Such is the allure of electronic sports (or eSports), a global phenomenon which involves playing video games at a competitive level. Even renowned football clubs like AS Roma and Manchester City have jumped on the bandwagon and formed their own official e-sports squads.
In 2017, a global tournament for a game called DOTA 2, had a prize pool of `1,68,74,37,382—which is almost 24 times more when compared to the `7 crore that top-tier Indian cricketers officially receive from BCCI annually. Unlike a few years ago, the taboo around competitive gaming is slowly fading. It’s easier to find major sponsors for gaming events. Case in point, fast forward to 2019 and eSports makes its debut in the 30th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) in Manila, Philippines.
This six-day-long team event, with participants from several Asian countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The contestants will fight in three categories: PC, console and mobile for six medals and national pride, not to mention bragging rights. The enlisted games include Dota 2, Heartstone, StarCraft, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Arena of Valor and Tekken 2.
The live stream of the event which ends on December 10 is available on Twitch.
*All images are from AP.