TO build a new esports scene in the country, you’ll need to start at the grassroots.
That’s exactly the tactic Mineski Philippines is planning to do as it partners with Riot Games to roll out the esports events of Riot's Valorant in the country.
“For the past decade, Asian talent has always been struggling in terms of first-person shooter (FPS) games,” said Mineski founder and CEO Ronald Robins in a press conference announcing the partnership. “Now with this game coming out ahead, and we're already starting out as soon as everybody else in the world, we will not have that disadvantage.”
From the creators of League of Legends, Valorant is a free-to-play five versus five competitive shooter that was just released this year.
Even if it’s a brand new game, Mineski believes that it is “poised to become one of the Philippines’ largest and most competitive esports titles in the country,” said the brand in a statement.
While it is targeting the pros with its nationwide Valorant First Strike: Philippines (with a whopping P500,000 prize pool) tournaments, as well as events it will run with Globe through the Philippine Pro Gaming League, Mineski also wants to build the Valorant scene from the ground up.
It has set up a national student Valorant tournament via their Youth Esports Program’s (YEP) National Interschool Cyber League. In the recently concluded NCR and Luzon legs, 41 schools participated. The ongoing Visayas and Mindanao events have seen, so far, 14 school sign ups.
“The strategy would also be accessibility for everyone,” said Marlon Marcelo, Mineski’s program director for the YEP. “That's why [we’re] really pushing this out to the collegiate level. We don't want them not to be intimidated, we want them to try Valorant. And then if they have the knack for it, of course, we're going to build the interest as we actually move up to the pro scene.”
Another avenue for growth that Marcelo is also eyeing is cyber cafes.

“Historically, cyber cafes have also been involved in making the esports community big,” continued Marcelo. “I feel like after COVID, and if everything is going to be back to normal, Valorant is one of the things that the cyber cafe owners will actually move forward with and push as a game that they would actually care for.”
Mineski does not see esports along genre lines (whether as shooters or mobile arena battlers), but rather looks at the entire scene as one community.
“It is a community that we do want to serve authentically,” said Mineski Philippines general manager Mark Navarro.
He added: “When we talk about how to make the FPS genre more accessible to the gaming community at large, the esports component [is] one part. But the way that we use gaming as a platform to tell stories, to entertain people, that's another way that we do it.”
For Riot Games’ part, it is bullish on the prospects of its newly released game, especially as it finds a stronger foothold in the Philippines.
“One of the biggest streaming categories of gaming is actually FPS. But when you look at the esports side, the biggest esport for viewing is the MOBA,” observed Chris Tran, head of esports at Riot Games SE Asia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. “There's a huge bit of opportunity there.”
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