PH eSports flourishes despite pandemic
Marlon Marcelo of PeSO during the 3rd Pro Sports Summit on Wednesday. | Screengrab from the summit’s live stream.
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The vibrant and highly competitive eSports scene in the Philippines identified the challenges they’ve been battling amidst the COVID-19 pandemic during the Games and Amusements Board’s (GAB) 3rd Professional Sports Summit on Wednesday, Sept. 29.
The country’s official NSA for eSports, the Philippine eSports Organization (PeSO), graced the Summit as one of its guests.
Marlon Marcelo, PeSO’s deputy executive director, said they are continuing to battle different challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite the challenges, Marcelo the eSports scene in the country is flourishing.
One of the biggest achievements of the eSports community this year was the Bren Esports that won the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang M2 World Championship title.
According to Marcelo, one of the biggest problems the eSports community currently faces is poor internet connection.
“Dahil naging online na muna ang pagsali sa mga atleta natin sa tournaments, talagang need nila ng magandang internet connection and that’s the biggest challenge na kinakaharap ng atleta natin,” said Marccelo.
Aside from poor internet connection, PeSO is also struggling to pursue its projects since most are onsite events and tournaments.
FUTURE PLANS
In October 2020, the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) formalized PeSO as the governing body or official NSA for eSports.
One of their plans is to coordinate further with GAB to organize onsite tournaments to be held in a bubble setup.
“Ibang kasiyahan at excitement ang dinadala ng bubble onsite tournament kahit anong game yan mapa console or mobile ang paglalaro. Isa yan sa pinaplano ng mga organizers ng PeSO making paperworks for IATF, DOH and GAB. Magandang paraan para maibalik yung sigla ng eSports,” added Marcelo.
Also, they are planning to put up a better training program for the eSports contingent that will vie in the Asian Games next year in Hangzhou, China.
PeSO also aims to organize more online tournaments to keep eSports athletes busy. Lastly, they requested GAB to make license applications and renewals available online for the safety and convenience of eSports athletes. /rcg
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