eSports and gaming are taking over the headlines now with more and more mainstream sports events recognising the new arena. Just this past week, eSports was officially welcomed into SUKMA (Sukan Malaysia). But before eSports became more mainstream, big players such as Acer have created their own leagues and competitions. Last year was the inaugral Asia Pacific Predator League hosted by Acer across the Asia Pacific region with a prize pool of USD$150,000.
The inaugral Predator league focused on the popular Massively Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game Defense of the Ancients 2 (DoTA 2). In what was one of the most followed leagues with over 320 million engagement throughout the tourney. The official hashtag, #APACPredatorLeague rose to the number 1 trending hashtag during the heated, final match of the league. The finals saw Malaysian team, Geek Fam, reign supreme taking home the lion’s share of the prize pool.
This year, the league returns with a larger prize pool of USD$400,000. In addition, the Asia Pacific Predator League also welcomes a new game to their competition: PlayerUnknown’s Battleground (PUBG). With a larger prize pool and more games to compete, the stakes are even higher in the 2019 Asia Pacific Predator League.
DoTA2 Predator League Championship
The DoTA2 Championship will be kicking off with offline qualifiers happening at 6 cyber cafes across Malaysia; in Mineski Teluk Cempedak Kuantan, M&M Premium eSports Café Ipoh, Mineski Arena Johor, Mineski Setiawangsa KL, Mineski Arena Kajang and Eternity eSports Penang. There will also be 4 online qualifiers.
The Malaysia Grand Finals will be held from 2 to 4 November 2018 in One Utama Shopping center. The Malaysian champion will be taking home RM56,000 in cash prize.
PUBG Championship Predator League
The PUBG Championship will consist of 4 online qualifying rounds held on the 29 September, 30 September, 13 October and 14 October. The top 5 from each qualifying round will battle it out in the finals held in Empire City Mall, Damansara Perdana on the 27 to 28 October 2018. The winner will walk away with RM4,000 cash prize and a Predator Aethon keyboard.
The Asia Pacific Predator League 2019 will be happening from the 15th to 17th February 2019 at the Nimibutr Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. This will be the final battleground for players from across the region.
For more information on the Asia Pacific Predator League and to register for the Malaysian leg of the League visit https://www.predatorleague.com/.
Also published on Medium.
