By Tanisha Lele
Telkomsel’s Dunia games to collaborate with Garena on esports tournament
On May 7, 2020, Indonesian telecommunications provider Telkomsel announced the third edition of Indonesia Games Championship (IGC), the largest esports tournament in Indonesia, which will be held from May to September this year.
As the tournament is immensely popular among gaming enthusiasts and professional gamers, it is expected to attract more than 32,000 mobile participants from across the country. The gamers will compete for prize money of more than IDR 1.6 billion (around US$106,000). Due to the pandemic and the need for social distancing, as advised by the Indonesian government, the qualification rounds will be held online.
Esports has become one of the biggest markets in Indonesia. According to IDByte Esports, Indonesia has 43.7 million esports enthusiasts, and 55% of them are spenders. Game market researcher Newzoo also predicted that after 2018, the gaming industry would see a huge jump.
The IGC 2020 is open for both female and male teams and not limited to just professional players. Its aim is to give a chance to everyone to reach their potential and contribute to the development of the esports industry in Indonesia. Gamers can play in two modes, Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) or Battleground Survival, on either PC or mobile formats.
Unsurprisingly, the game chosen for PC players is League of Legends, the wildly popular battle arena game from publisher Riot Games. Forbes reported in 2019 that LoL has made over US$20 billion in revenue over its lifetime. Meanwhile, the options in the mobile games category are Free Fire, Call of Duty Mobile, and Arena of Valor.
Participants can start registering themselves for the competition from May 6 to June 2020 through igc.duniagames.co.id. Qualification rounds will be held later in July and August 2020. A total of eight teams from each game, with the exception of 12 teams from the mobile game Free Fire, will be selected for the Grand Final in September 2020.
Telkomsel, an Indonesian wireless network provider, was founded in 1995 in Jakarta, Indonesia. As of December 2016, Telkomsel claimed to have reached a total of 160 million customers and an estimated market share of approximately 50%.
“IGC 2020 will be held online, to enable participants to contribute to the further development of the esports industry in Indonesia while maintaining their safe physical distance. This also translates our support to the government’s continued advisory for canceling or deferring social gatherings during the pandemic,” said Telkomsel Director of Marketing Rachel Goh in a press statement.
Garena is a Singapore-based digital services firm that has interests in in gaming, ecommerce, and digital finance. It was founded in 2009 by current Chairman and Group CEO, Forrest Li, and is noted as one of Southeast Asia’s tech unicorns.
Dunia Games by Telkomsel held IGC tournaments in 2017 and 2018 consecutively, where a total of more than 22,000 people from all over the country enthusiastically participated. According to the operator, millions of viewers across digital channels owned by Dunia Games have been dedicatedly following IGC tournaments in 2017 and 2018.
As a result of previous iterations’ success, expectations are high for this year’s competition.
“We hope the IGC 2020 could meet gamers’ expectation for entertainment during these unprecedented times. We would also try to continue to hold IGC periodically in the coming years to bring more impactful and sustainable advancement in the eSports industry,” Goh concluded.
The stages of the IGC 2020 tournament can be easily live-streamed through the numerous digital channels provided by Dunia Games. One can also get updates on the website, or tune in to the company’s social media and YouTube handles. The company has also curated MAXstream, a video-on-demand platform, where esports enthusiasts across Indonesia can watch the 2020 IGC tournament from the comfort and safety of their homes.
Dunia games has previously hosted its own esports league, which included three gaming events, namely Dunia Games League, Dunia Games Campus League and the Dunia Games Pro League.
