Major DotA event all set to descend on the country
THE countdown further heats up for the major Defense of the Ancients (DotA) tournament to hit the country to start the year with organizers releasing further details for Galaxy Battles II: Emerging Worlds.
Organized by Fallout Gaming and Purpose Win Entertainment Limited (PWEL), Galaxy Battles is set to happen on Jan. 19 to 21 at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan and is designed to take the already-competitive and growing e-sports scene to another plane not only in the country but also in the Southeast Asian region.
The event is a follow-up to the highly successful first Galaxy Battles II that took place in June 2017 in Shenzhen, China, and will feature 16 teams from all over the world that will square off for a total prize pool of $ 1 million.
The people behind the big DotA event said they are making sure that the handling of the activities for the three- day affair is in line with their vision of reinventing the DotA e- sports scene, angling to make it more “experiential” for gamers and fans alike.
Tickets to Galaxy Battles II, which are available at SM Ticketworld, are set P7,000 ( VIP), P4,000 ( Premium Center), P3,700 (Premium Lower Deck), P2,900 ( General Admission Lower Deck), P2,600 ( General Admission Center Upper Deck) and P2,000 (General Admission Upper Deck).
Among the teams seeing action in the tournament are Infamous, Red Bull OG, TNC Pro Team, Team LFY, Evil Geniuses, Team Liquid, Virtus. Pro and Team Newbee.
“There are hidden gems for esports in the region that have not been found yet. In every country actually, whether it is Vietnam, Cambodia, all the way down to Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand, there is a lot of hidden talent,” said Adrian Gaffor, managing director of Malaysiabased organizer Fallout Gaming in an earlier interview with BusinessWorld as he spoke on why they have decided to bring the tournament to Southeast Asia.
“It’s just a vast market where they are very passionate and just won’t quit and that is the kind of spirit we are looking for to grow the tournament, to grow the scene. The people are the ones who grow the community and with this we want to give them a platform,” he added.
As for the Philippines playing host, Mr. Gaffor it was pretty much a logical choice.
“The e- sports scene here in the Philippines is just intense. The people here are very passionate about e- games and e- sports, particularly DotA 2. I don’t foresee that declining anytime soon and everyone here really gets behind the teams that play,” Mr. Gaffor said.
Adding, “Why are we here? Well, we wanted to go to a market where DotA 2 is very well accepted and blow that out of the water and give them something to be proud about, something we will be proud about, and grow it from this particular point.”
The Philippine government, organizers said, is supportive of the event, with the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) overseeing the conduct of the staging of the tournament.