August 31, 2022
JAKARTA – Indonesia is hosting the 14th World Esports Championship, the annual e-sports tournament held by the International Esports Federation (IESF), for the second time since 2016 with more than 120 countries participating.
Over 700 athletes will compete in six different games to win the total prize pool of US$500,000 during the Indonesia Esports Summit 2022, which the organizer said would run for 10 days from Dec. 2 to 11 in Bali, with the event taking place outdoors.
“We took the challenge of holding this event outdoors. The Indonesian e-sports tournament will be held outdoors for the first time. We will hold it on the beach, because the view from the beaches are too good [to miss],” said Diana Sutrisno, the tournament’s event director, on Monday.
Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno said the event was conclusive proof of Indonesian e-sports development, as it provided opportunities for the younger generation to self-actualize and make careers out of gaming.
“Other than being a sport, the e-sports community in Indonesia has also evolved into a lifestyle and culture for the younger generation,” Sandiaga said in the ministry’s weekly press briefing, also on Monday.
He emphasized how the event would contribute directly to the government’s program to create 1.1 million jobs in 2022, seeing as how such an event involved many stakeholders like game developers and publishers, pro teams, athletes, influencers, brands and media.
He said it would also help Bali’s tourism gets back on its feet.
“This is interesting because Indonesian tourism has started to recover, but when you look closer at the metric data, Bali has not yet fully recovered. Whereas for Yogyakarta and Bandung, they’re ahead in recovery. For Bali, [the number of] hotel guests are still lacking, so we applaud this [e-sports event],” Sandiaga said.
Neil El Hilman, the ministry’s Digital Economy and Creative Product deputy, added that Indonesia had big potential to develop domestically made games, and that the ministry would stand behind the effort.
“What we need in the future is to build the ecosystem, so our games are played globally, as well as competed for internationally,” said Neil.
Athletes of 14th World Championship will contend in six different games, which are Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, eFootball, Tekken 7, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and PUBG: Mobile.
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