The events arm of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), Sphere Exhibits is making its entrance into the esports arena in partnership with Gam3.Asia.
Sphere Exhibits will host the inaugural Esports Festival Asia (EFA) during COMEX 2019 from 5 to 8 September 2019.
Sphere Exhibits aims to introduce esports to casual gamers and consumers by bringing gaming tournaments to the masses at COMEX 2019 and is investing S$1 million into this venture.
Winners at the inaugural EFA stand to win more than S$35,000 in cash prizes.
There will be four tournaments happening at EFA:
- Regional finals of Female Esports League (FSL), Southeast Asia’s premier female gaming circuit;
- Regional qualifier of the fourth eXTREMESLAND CS:GO Asia Open 2019 where the winning team will move on to compete in the finals in Shanghai, China;
- First Singapore qualifier for the China Mobile Esports League (CMEL) that was launched on 6 August 2018, and the winning team will represent Singapore to compete in the finals held in Chong Qing, China;
- EFA’s own tournament, the Asia Champions Esports (ACE) League features popular games Mobile Legends, PUBG Mobile, and Dota Underlords.
FSL will be holding regional tournaments for two games – Arena of Valor and League of Legends – from now till August 2019.
Four winners for each game will fly down to Singapore, the last stop in the FSL circuit, to play at EFA for a total prize pool of $2,500 per title.
As for the ACE League, the combined prize pool is worth over S$20,000 for the three games – registrations are now open.
Visitors can also look forward to booth activities and bargains for esports peripherals at Suntec Convention Centre Level 6.
Event-goers can also sign up with their friends for community matches, and winners of these casual tournaments stand to win discount vouchers and gaming gear bargains.
Chua Wee Phong, Chairman of Sphere Exhibits, said, “Today, we are proud to welcome the latest concept of esports to COMEX 2019 – while there have been several esports tournaments in the past, they have been largely focused on the professional and semi-professional gaming community.”
“With EFA, Sphere aims to bring esports to the masses at COMEX 2019, where over 500,000 consumers will gather over the four days.”
EFA expects to attract over 1,000 players across Southeast Asia with the top 200 local and regional gamers participating in the finals or regional qualifiers at COMEX 2019.
The EFA will happen 5 to 8 September, 12pm to 9pm, at Hall 605 at Suntec City Convention Centre.
For more information and updates, visit their website here.
Featured Image Credit: Sphere Exhibits