ESL Announces Arena of Valor SEA Tournament, Road to AIC 2019
- ESL hosts a new Arena of Valor event in Southeast Asia-Pacific
- Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines will participate
- AoV female players are more numerous than male counterparts
ESL will host an Road to AIC 2019 event in Southeast Asia, offering opportunity to three countries from the region to field their teams.
Arena of Valor to Host Road to AIC 2019 in SEA
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Mobile MOBA Arena of Valor has long been struggling to popularize the Chinese Honor of Kings in the West. With the announcement of ESL MSP Championship hosted by the namesake esports league, Arena of Valor is making yet another step to cement its clout and boost awareness, mostly in Southeast Asia (SEA) where the tournament will focus. Meanwhile, AoV managed to post a solid $100 million in terms of revenue for 2018.
Mercedes-Benz and Malaysia’s telecoms Yoodo are listed as the official sponsors for the event with the ESL MSP Championship kicking off in August and running through September. Garena, a popular virtual platform connecting players from all over the world, has also landed its support for the event.
All teams will compete for $10,000 in total prize money, which is small by modern esports standards. Yet, the winning team would be allowed the opportunity to represent MSP The tournament will feature eight teams from several SEA countries, which have lended their first letters to the tournament, including:
- Malaysia
- Singapore
- the Philippines
Two teams will be invited, while the remaining six slots will be filled by teams that will compete through Open Qualifiers (OQ), which is the common format for the majority of competitive video gaming events in SEA. The tournament is part of the Road to AIC 2019 initiativ
Building the AOV Esports Ecosystem
Commenting on these developments, ESL SVP for Asia-Pacific Japan, Nick Vanzetti, said that ESL was excited to partner up with various organizations, including Garena, and expand the league’s reach into the Southeast Asia region.
Similarly, Garena’s Producer for Indonesia, Marshal Bagus Nugroho shared his positive experience with witnessing esports grow and expand in SEA:
“Garena AOV is proud to be working again with ESL on developing esports scene in Southeast Asia. Hopefully, from the ESL MSP Championship, we’ll see the birth of talented players who will win on the international stage.”
Arena of Valor has enjoyed better reception in Southeast Asia where good gaming phones come at a fraction of the cost that they do in the West. Plus, mobile gaming is more popular as a rule of thumb, which gives titles such as Mobile Legends and Arena of Valor a significant advantage.
So far as Honor of Kings goes, the game remains the most played mobile title in China. Interestingly, female gamers outnumber male counterparts, which is another confirmation that female players take more fondly to mobile games in general.
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