GLOBE Telecom Inc. sees a huge potential in the e-gaming industry, a budding sector in the Philippine that could generate millions of pesos in revenues from advertising, its president said on Thursday.
On the sidelines of the launch of Globe’s partnership with international gaming companies Mineski, Riot Games and Garena, Globe President Ernest L. Cu said his group will invest in e-gaming initiatives to further boost its revenues in the long run.
“I think interest in e-games creates a lot of potential to build an industry around e-sports,” he said. “Gaming revenues, revenues from advertising, revenues from events, revenues from connectivity that would be required as allow people continue to play—all that plays into Globe’s playbook.”
Under its partnership with the three global e-sports players, Globe, Mineski, Riot Games and Garena will create Globe Gaming, a holistic program designed to provide gamers and fans access to the latest titles, local, regional and global e-sports competitions, original content and exclusive programming.
Cu said his group will support the gaming and e-sports industry by providing fully optimized Internet connectivity during events and tournaments in the Philippines.
“Together with our new partners, we want to accelerate the gaming industry in the country by bringing gaming and e-sports into homes, mobile devices, malls and competition venues,” he said.
As part of a multiyear, exclusive partnership, Globe and Mineski will collaborate on the formation and training of a forthcoming e-sports team that will compete in regional and global events.
The parties will coproduce the Globe Philippine Pro Gaming League, a multi-title competition offering teams the opportunity to be crowned “Best in the Philippines” while earning advancement to elite tournaments.
Additionally, Globe and Mineski will bring back to the region the MET owned Manila Masters in 2019.
Globe inked a first-of-its kind partnership with Garena, for marketing, competitions and content production for the mobile game “Arena of Valor”.
Together, the companies will introduce a series of “Valor Cup” e-sports tournaments offering teams the chance to compete for entry into the Arena of Valor World Championships, held in Los Angeles in July where a $500,000 of prize money is
at stake.
Additionally, the company’s partnership with Garena extends to the Riot Games-owned title, “League of Legends”, the world’s most-played PC game with over 100 million active monthly users worldwide.
As part of this partnership, Garena and Riot will introduce a multicountry tournament structure, which awards the winning team direct entry into the League of Legends World Championships.
The tournament, known as the SEA Tour, will lead to the first-ever regional championship to be held in Manila in August 2018, known as the Globe Conquerors Manila, which will be the region’s leading sanctioned, competitive League of Legends event.