When it comes to big esports tournaments in Malaysia, there is always the need to be cautious. The country have seen major blunders in big tournament over the years, from technical difficulties (which includes blackouts and short circuits) to major fumbles like not paying winners their rightfully earn share of the prize pool.
Speaking at the press conference after the soft launch of the Malaysian Cyber Games 2018, Suara Anak 1Malaysia Club President YB Dato’ Armand Azha Hj Abu Hanifah this will not be the case for the government-backed amateur esports event, set to be held this weekend on 13-14th January.
“We’ll give the cheques on the same date,” said Armand.
The organisers, Mineski Events Team and the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia have been in talks to ensure that payment will be ready to be distributed right after all the winners have been determined, no need to wait a few weeks like most esports tournaments usually do.
The inaugural Malaysian Cyber Games was held in December 2015, offering 4 different game tournaments. Ever since then, Armand stated that it has build hype to the point more organisers have started doing esports event, with mixed results.
“Everyone want to be Malaysian Cyber Games.. imitate Malaysian Cyber Games, everybody said they are better than Malaysian Cyber Games, some even gave RM1,000,000 prize pool but at the end, the gamer community knows, it was unpaid.” The last part is obviously throwing shade at AGES 2016 which, despite being a nice esports event, had issues in payment that has yet to be resolved to this day.
“Today, we are telling everyone, you don’t imitate us, the real player is back. We understand the gamer community,” Armand added.
The 2018 edition will be the second and will see 9 different games tournament: Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, Injustice 2, Dota 2, CS:GO, Mobile Legends, FIFA 18, F1 2017 and Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG). The 9 tournaments share a total of RM300,000 worth of prize pool.
The soft launch was officiated by the Minister of Communications and Multimedia, YB Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak.