eSports officially a medal event in 2019 SEA Games

In this photo, taken on Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017, an esports competitor takes part in the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Including competitive computer games, known as esports, could give the Olympics a younger audience and a huge revenue boost from a rapidly growing market, but would be deeply controversial. (Photo by DAVID ALIAGA / LAUREL Photo Services via AP)

Don’t ever think that electronic sports won’t have any impact on the Philippines in the Southeast Asian Games.

Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc) chair Alan Peter Cayetano on Wednesday announced that eSports would be a regular event in the 11-nation Games that the country will be hosting next year.

“In this modern world, those who play esports are athletes like everyone else in the delegation,’’ said Cayetano during the presser held at Marriot Hotel at Resorts World Manila in Paranaque City.

“It’s a regular sport and officially we want them (eSport players) to be treated like any other athlete in the SEA Games,’’ added Cayetano.

The Phisgoc has formed a SEA Games ad hoc committee for esports in partnership with Razer, a leading global lifestyle brand based in Singapore for gamers.

Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan said the gaming firm would draw upon its expertise and experience in eSports as well as its ecosystem of hardware, software and services to support the tournament in the biennial meet on Nov. 30-Dec. 10 next year.

According to Alvin Juban, who was tapped as a member of the ad hoc committee with veteran gamer Joebert Yu, there will be six gold medals at stake for the discipline composed of two personal computer games, a pair of mobile events and two console games.

Yu said they would organize a national qualifying tournament where the best performers would be handpicked for the national pool.

Also present during the press conference were Philippine SEA Games chef de mission Monsour Del Rosario, Phisgoc executive director Ramon “Tats’’ Suzara and SEAG Federation Executive Committee chair Celso Dayrit.

“From the pool that we produced, we will form a body of experts which will choose the players who will represent the country,’’ said Yu.

Dayrit, a former president of the Philippine Olympic Committee, said the eSports that would be played in the SEA Games should not promote a culture of violence and gambling.

“We consider the value of eSports to our youth. There are so many different games, we will find those games that conform to the values propagated by the IOC (International Olympic Committee),’’ said Dayrit.