Electronic Sports Malaysia (ESM), an independent sports body under the purview and endorsement of the Ministry of Youth & Sports Malaysia (KBS), has announced the first ever ASEAN Games for E-Sports (AGES) event which is to be held here in Malaysia. The event will take place from the 18th till the 20th of March 2016 at Dewan Agong Tuanku Canselor, in UiTM Shah Alam. With a pooled prize money of RM 1,000,000, the tournament is said to offer the highest ever for an eSports competition in the region.
The official organiser of AGES 2016 is Platinum Eden Sdn Bhd, a climate control solutions provider, and it will be assisted by its co-organiser Friends Worldwide, an advertising and communications agency. The inaugural event will see Malaysia as the first host country and will have the participation of not only Malaysian gamers, but also members of the Asean Confederation of E-Sports (ACES); an association that’s made up of Singapore Cybersports & Online Gaming Association (SCOGA), Thailand Esports Association (“TESA”), Philippines Esports Organisation (“PESO”), Indonesian eSports Association (“IeSPA”), eSports Viet (ESV), and the Cambodian ESC.
Gamers at AGES 2016 will be competing in 3 of the more popular games in the gaming scene at the moment, namely ‘Defense of the Ancients 2’ (DOTA 2), ‘FIFA 16’, and ‘Counter Strike: Global Offensive’ (CS:GO). The AGES 2016 venue also promises an outdoor carnival featuring booths, pocket-events, and activities for all ages. Admission to watch the action inside AGES 2016 will require tickets, whereas the outdoor carnival will be open to the general public. The official AGES 2016 site was supposed to have gone live yesterday, February 18th, with further information on the event and its ticketing options, but it’s still not fully up yet. For now, use the AGES Facebook page instead for comments and queries.
ESM hopes that this first fully sanctioned eSports event by the independent body will further promote the development of the segment in Malaysia. The sports body will also regulate the segment and aims to make Malaysia, as well as the region, a world-class hub for the growing eSports industry. In addition to organising events, ESM will also focus on these 5 strategic areas for eSports development: welfare of gamers, standardisation, education, community developments, and international recognition.
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