The Rise of E-Sports in the Arena of Talents

Empowered by characters in mobile games, teamwork, and pure talents, Electronic Sports (e-sports) have risen to popular domination in the past decade due to the obsession of Filipino people to gadgets and virtual realm.

The fascination of Filipinos to gizmos have contributed to popularizing games such as DOTA, Clash of Clans, Mobile Legends, Call of Duty, etc. and over time it evolved from being leisure games into a competitive profession amongst the youth.

Since the start of the previous decade, the Philippines has been well-represented in the esports industry. Despite having few international awards, it is an important esports nation due to the size of its market and fanbase.

The Philippines, like most countries in South and Southeast Asia, is a mobile-first country when it comes to esports, partly because mobile gaming has lower entry barriers than other forms of gaming.

However, its preference for MOBA games is what distinguishes this esports population.

Mobile devices dominate our country which makes mobile esports competitions make up the majority of the big events. Despite this, many competitions offer sizable prize pools, especially by domestic standards gaining the attention of a large number of Filipinos.

According to YCP Solidiance, the Philippine esports market is home to over 43 million active gamers, steadily increasing by 12.9% yearly since 2017. This growth is supported by the growing accessibility of smartphones and mobile internet.

Mobile Legends, one of the most played Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games in the nation, is leading the gaming industry. Its daily active user count peaked at 2.65 million in April 2019 and has steadily increased at a CAGR of 8.78 percent over the previous five months.

In 2020, when the pandemic hit the country, it was put under strict measures of quarantine among different regions to contain the spread of the virus. It paved the way to attract a massive number of players. Consequently, industries have been forced to retrench numbers of workers, it added fuel to the continuous rise of e-sports.

Breaking stereotypes and gender norms E-sports have been dominated by male players for the longest time but over the course of time it has progressed in giving women’s and even LGBTQIA+ a visibility in the platform.

In fact, one of the best players in the world of Mobile Legends is a member of the vibrant community. He’s an openly gay man who defies social and gender norms to prove that LGBTQIA+ can also thrive in a male dominated landscape. Jonmar "OhMyV33NUS" Villaluna is currently member of Blacklist International and the current captain of Team Sibol, the Philippine team for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang who recently bagged the gold medal in 31st Southeast Asian Games.

He’s also one of the most decorated players in his field having a multi-title indifferent tournaments; as of this writing he currently has on his shoulders the World Championship Title, Southeast Asian Title, and the reigning champs of Mobile Legends in the Philippines.

After his exposure in the pro-scene, numbers of e-sports athletes who belong in the community have come out of their shells because of the representation that OhMyVenus gives.

International coaches and teams have also seen the potential of Filipino athletes in the world of e-sports. Furthermore, they came here in thePhilippines to scout players that they want in their team.

Recently, Indonesian team Onic E-sports have signed a contract with Filipino e-athlete ‘Kairi’ to play in Indonesia. It was a huge leap to boost the morale of Filipino aspirants to take their talents internationally.

The successes of Filipino teams and organizations over the last year prove that we are more than capable of dominating not only the local scene but also on a global scale.