MANILA – In a sign of global recognition of the Philippines e-sports, Electronic Sports League (ESL), the world’s largest e-sports company, has picked Manila to host its first ever Dota 2 tournament in South East Asia.
Taking place from April 23-24 in the Mall of Asia Arena, ESL One Manila will have $250,000 prize pool and was organized in partnership with PLDT via its brands Fibr & GameX. ESL. It marks a prize money milestone of US$750,000 for ESL in relation to its promise to pledge one million dollars in Dota 2 prize money over a twelve month period.
Though not as high as the $3 million prize money offered at Shanghai Major March 2016, another premium tourney organized by digital distribution content platform Steam, it’s a huge step for the region as more global brands take notice of both its talent and huge user base.
Valuing the total global esports market at $748M to date, research group Superdata reports that year-over-year revenue growth is largely a result of more brands and advertisers entering the market. Asia, worth $321M, is slowly giving way to western investment, leading North America and Europe to account for almost $400M, over half of global revenues.
By end-2018, the market is set to reach $1.9 billion, with the growth of direct revenue source sources such as betting sites and amateur tournament platforms.
“The Philippines have a strong history with Dota 2, and so when discussing possible Asian events, the decision was an easy one to make. This is a country and community that loves Dota 2, and we’re honored to be able to say we’re making history with this event: it’s the first event of its kind in the region and we can’t wait to see fan reactions to what we have in store,” says Ulrich Schulze, VP Pro Gaming at ESL.
Tickets to ESL One Manila are selling out since the announcement Tuesday (December 8). General admission sells for Php 500 while the VIP seats with free food, loot and exclusive online DOTA 2 items is priced an at Php 5,000. The Mall of Asia Arena has a full-house capacity of 20,000.
