Let the games begin on eSports

MANILA, Philippines – When 13-year-old Alexandre “AK” Lavarez walked into the first and only eSports (Electronic Sports) bar and video game lounge in the Philippines, he was immediately surrounded by admirers wanting to shake his hand and have their photo taken with him.

Lavarez, who hails from Parañaque City, is the worldwide third best player of the video game Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Unlimited for the gaming console Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

He finished third in the international Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Unlimited Global Championship ’13 held last October in South Korea against 19 much older competitors from all over the world including the United States, Australia, China, Japan.

Lavarez is at the top of the growing Philippine eSports sector, a market that Imperium eSports bar owner Raphael Gancayco wanted to tap when he came back to the country after studying business in the United States.

“I feel like the Philippines can make a global impact on the eSports scene and this is why I provide that facility and community for the advancement of eSports,” Gancayco said in an exclusive interview with INQUIRER.net during the grand opening of Imperium eSports bar last December 2013.

“There are not that many professional eSports players in the Philippines compared to the United States but I feel like we can do it,” he said.

Rise of eSports

Starting back in the 1970s as video game tournaments where players compete to get the highest score, eSports now has hundreds of international tournaments hosted all over the world.

The largest among them is the annual World Cyber Games (WCG) organized since 2000 by South Korean company World Cyber Games Inc.

The event has been hosted in different major cities worldwide and has brought together at least 400 participants from more than 30 countries every year.

In 2008, more than 800 gamers attended from 78 countries when the WCG was held in Cologne, Germany. As much as $470,000 in prize money was given away during the grand finals.

Played games cover multiple genres such as Real-Time Strategy (Starcraft II, Warcraft III, DOTA 2), First-Person Shooter (Cross Fire, Counter-Strike), and sports (FIFA 2012).

The Philippines is at number 42 out of the total 83 countries in the WCG rankings as of October 2010 despite not winning any medals yet. South Korea ranks first, Germany second, and USA third.

eSports Career

Lavarez, who took home $1,000 for his third place win, said that he was looking to make gaming as a career once he grows up.

As for his parents, “they are happy for me,” Lavarez said. “I just have to ensure that my grades are maintained.”

Asked whether he thought that the eSports industry could become big in the Philippines, he said: “I’m not sure whether it will happen or not, but I want it to.”

Gancayco said he started his business to provide Filipino gamers with a place to come together to socialize and play with each other.

“I wanted to provide first time gamers a place to play and socialize with their friends [as well as] provide the hardcore tournament players a place where they could go to compete with other like- minded players and improve,” he said.

Gancayco also believes that the video game industry in the Philippines could probably be bigger bigger than most places in the world.

“It’s because there’s many computer shops here, there’s much more computer shops here than there are back in the US,” he said.

The potential of the Filipino eSports sector was the primary inspiration for Gancayco to set up the first eSports bar and video game lounge in the Philippines.

“We provide a very unique set of amenities that nobody else has, not yet,” he said.

“I really do feel like now is the time [for eSports in the Philippines],” he added.