Acer to boost e-sports in Asia-Pacific region
BANGKOK: In an effort to boost the e-sports industry in the Asia-Pacific region, hardware and electronics giant Acer is ready to collaborate with schools and universities in providing support to learning more about e-sports.
Acer Pan Asia Pacific president, Andrew Hou said the Taiwan-based multinational’s long-term plan was to discover more talent and have more young people participate in professional e-sports in the region.
Hou said Acer was ready to collaborate with governments in AsiaPacific countries to build an ecosystem for the e-sports industry.
“We will try to build gaming classroom for different colleges, universities and other educational institutions, help establish gaming society for schools, and even assist universities set up an e-sports department,” he told Bernama News Channel (Astro 502) on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Predator League 2019, here, yesterday.
Hou cited this league as a good platform for youths in Asia to make e-sports as a career.
E-sports will be a medal event at the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines.
“That is why Acer is not just out to sell more computers, but we also want to serve society better by helping young people find their way and indulge in esports,” said Hou.
Acer had sponsored various e-sport competitions, namely the Esports Dota 2 International tournament, the Kuala Lumpur Major 2018 and the ESL One Championship 2018 in Genting Highlands.
The sponsorships also provided an opportunity for Acer to promote its video game hardware and accessories, the ACER Predator Series, more widely to the gaming industry.
ACER continues its initiative to evolve e-sport games at the international stage by hosting the Asia Pacific Predator League for the second time which began at the Nimibutr National Stadium here on Friday.
Acer Malaysia senior product manager, Jeffrey Lai said the tournament was even more competitive this time around with DOTA 2 and the latest game, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds or PUB-G, being contested.
Lai said the tournament received overwhelming response with the participation of 26 teams from 16 Asian countries for both games.
“The reason we are organising the Predator League is to nurture more talents, and also for the growth of e-sports industry,” he added.
For this round of championship which offers a total cash price of US$250,000, Malaysia has two teams for the DOTA 2 tournament, represented by defending champions, Geek Fam and Lotac, while PUBG is represented by the Asbol team.
Among the participating countries are Thailand as host, the Philippines, Australia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia and Japan.
Thailand is the second host for the Asia Pacific Predator League after it was held for the first time in Jakarta, Indonesia last year. - Bernama