eSports to be Medal Events in 2019 SEA Games – Digital is Reality 

The recent announcement made by the Philippines Foreign Affairs secretary and South East Asian Games Organising Committee chairman emeritus Alan Peter Cayetano at a press conference in Pasay City established that eSports will be contested as medal events in the upcoming 2019 SEA Games.

The games too have already been announced. Among them are Dota 2, Starcraft II, Tekken 7, Arena of Valor and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. While the other games that were left out put the selection up for debate, Malaysia’s Ministry of Youth and Sports in response, made RM10 million available for eSports development.

Seemingly, the RM10 million allocated is seen as a huge allocation in contrast to the RM100 million allocated for other sports. This goes to show just how much eSports are widely accepted among Malaysia’s younger cohort despite challenging traditional conventions of how athletes are usually perceived.

No doubt, we think that digital is the reality of the future, or a mirror of it. As Malaysia seeks to produce top “athletes” in Mobile legend, Dota and Starcraft to name a few, at The Codian, we foresee that eSports will attract huge attention at the upcoming SEA Games.

In turn, this exposure will further spur the development of the sport and games. Finally getting the recognition it deserves, this will be the litmus test for Malaysia’s eSports success. With that said, while the country may not produce top athletes in shooting, it could have a pretty good team at Mobile legends, instead.

In a nutshell, eSports contested as medal events will make a great spectacle. It will be really interesting to see how the allocation will be used for the sport’s development. Nonetheless, the athletic feats that we typically anticipate and revel with friends at the stadium will have to share their prime time coverage with eSports.

At the moment, this is what the world’s young demographics unanimously want to see more of. Surely, this new batch of “athletes” will require tailored fitness regimes to be fit for competition. And a lot of this will be digital. This in itself is will push for a creative brand-new path to grow eSports’ acceptance and growth.