While 2020 has put a strain on most industries, the upward trajectory of esports across Southeast Asia has not stopped. The esports and gaming industry was privileged to have benefited from the pandemic's strict security protocols that impeded mobility, made the practice of working and studying from home, and accelerated the shift to digital for all.
In a press release, Mineski Global, a top-tier esports company in Southeast Asia, said despite the challenging year, the growth of the esports and gaming industry continued to flourish.
Mineski shared that a higher proportion of smartphone users play mobile games in 2020, with an estimated global mobile gaming industry of US$76 billion in global revenue in 2020, a 12 percent rise from the previous year's estimates. The year also saw a resurgence in personal computer and peripheral sales, with lockdowns worldwide leading to a spike in PC gaming hardware of 10.3 percent. One year after including "gaming disorder" to its list of addictive habits, the World Health Organization also went as far as recommending playing video games to avoid the spread of COVID-19.
The number of online mobile gamers in Southeast Asia is estimated to have risen to 250 million by 2021. This trend is verified by Mineski Global, the leading esports organization whose esports-centered portfolio helps drive the growth of the country's gaming industry.
Mineski CEO Ronald Robins said, "2020 was not without its challenges for us at Mineski; however, the work that we began in 2019 to revisit our purpose and reorganize our operations around our mission allowed us to take full advantage of the opportunities for growth despite a difficult year. We began with re-aligning our operations across Southeast Asia under one banner, Mineski Global. With that, we upgraded our range of services to offer our partners a more complete end to end solution, from running online tournaments and digital broadcasts to integrated marketing, pro team management, and strategic partnerships with engagement platforms that better reach our growing gaming audience."
Robins added, "we want to enable gamers to win beyond the game and make them the center of value creation as well as an aggregating platform for stakeholders through engagement, content, and technology. To achieve this, we had to reinvent ourselves in 2020 to offer our customers a more holistic solution."
Founded on a passion for gaming, Mineski closed 2020 with an enviable list of accomplishments, a growing list of strategic partners, and pipelined prospects brightly shining their light on 2021.
Lockdown Games for the benefit of medical front-liners
Mineski Philippines ensured that it could continue to professionally broadcast esports tournaments from home at the beginning of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) earlier in the year. Via a month-long series of Lockdown Games, the company's first campaign during ECQ raised $20,000 for Filipino hospitals and front-liners, which saw professional basketball players who were also esports fans compete against professional esports athletes and industry celebrities, and competition between college teams in show matches for charity. To contribute to this noble cause, many international corporations and SMEs joined in.
Record Views for pro tournaments
Mineski has been running the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League for game developer Moonton in Indonesia and the Philippines every season since 2018. Owing to the pandemic, MPL Seasons 5 and 6, both held in 2020, had to pivot their tournaments online. As a result, MPL S6 live stream tournament topped league records in terms of online viewership with more than 2.8 million peak viewers and close to 67.6 million hours watched for Indonesia (representing a 145% increase in viewers). The Philippines recorded 765,916 peak viewers and over 21 million hours watched (representing a 119% lift in viewership from Season 5).
Tencent Games granted Mineski Indonesia the opportunity to organize the Southeast Asian finals after a successful run of its first year's PUBG Mobile Pro League, broadcasting to six countries in the SEA.
Mineski's latest PUBG Mobile Professional League rounds in Indonesia have garnered an unparalleled online viewership of 142,654 peak viewers and over 5.7 million total hours watched for the PUBG Indonesia Finals and 509,595 peak viewers and over 3.2 million total hours watched for the PUBG Southeast Asia Finals.
In 2020, Mineski Thailand launched a national PUBG Mobile Tournament with Tencent Games, a Mineski Masters Series PUBG Mobile tournament. Peak viewers were at 20,275, and there were just over 9.5 million total minutes watched.
Collaborations that bring game developers and publishers, brands, and the gaming community together
Riot Games Southeast Asia recently selected Mineski to roll out professional and college esports leagues in 2021 for Valorant and League of Legends: Wild Rift in the Philippines. Mineski is also tasked to grow the gaming scene in the country for both game titles.
Mineski Philippines continues its three-year partnership to operate the Philippine Pro Gaming League, the largest multi-title esports league in the country, with Globe Telecom. For various game titles, $150,000 in prize money has been awarded to amateur and professional Filipino gamers since 2018.
The partnership with Gameloft, a leading game developer, also enables Mineski to create new opportunities for brands through gamification to engage millennial and Gen Z casual gamers. This collaboration includes creating bespoke mobile games, connecting audiences through interactive events, developing playable ads, and placing in-game advertisements.
Mineski has also partnered with VPGAME, a SEA esports giant, on a multi-stage plan of action that brings together regional esports app marketing data of VPGAME with Mineski's strength in event organizing and local marketing. This collaboration promotes and nurtures the competitive gaming scene across Southeast Asia from grassroots to the professional level.
The partnership between Mineski Philippines and Ayala Malls Group aimed to deliver an alternative interactive shopping experience to mall-loving bachelors and gamers through S.T.A.G(Stylish Trends for Ayala Malls Gents).
Building a clear path for the youth in esports
Mineski is also laying the foundations in promoting responsible gaming for the youth, with its Youth Esports Program (YEP) being recognized by the national sports association Pilipinas E-Sports Organization (PESO) as one of its flagship activities in the coming year. Through the program, esports is being integrated as a co-curricular activity, and tournaments are being held, like Mineski NICL Dota 2, to discover a deep pool of talent for esports across the country.
COMMENTS