Philippine esports grassroots gets boost with Smart, Dark League partnership

MANILA, Philippines — Smart Communication has announced its partnership with esports events management group Dark League Studios (DSL) to help the advancement of the esports industry, especially at the grassroots level, through the telco's esports platform Smart Giga Arena.

“Our partnership with DLS is in line with our commitment to provide the best gaming experience to Filipinos. We at Smart have always believed in the ability of Filipinos to dominate sports of all kinds – including Esports. Through our collaboration with DLS, we hope to empower more aspiring Esports athletes to level up their gameplay and compete in a much bigger arena," PLDT and Smart president and CEO Al Panlilio said in a news release.

The partnership will also involve the Philippine Esports Organization (PeSo) in adopting industry-best practices and maintaining the highest standards of integrity in the local esports industry.

"PeSo is really excited to see this partnership. This is one of PESO's goals, to make esports accessible to everyone [in the country]. Hopefully the people who use the platform, may in the future, become our next batch of national esports athletes," PeSo executive director Marlon Marcelo said during the press conference announcing the partnership.

Smart Giga Arena was launched last 2022. Since then, it has drawn the participation of over two million players in 1,000 tournaments, with P4.2 million worth of prizes given away.

"We sponsor a lot of tournaments as well, especially with LGUs. With the partnership with DLS we will be able to consolidate all these tournaments. We will have economies of scale as they call it. LGUs may use our platform to host esports tournaments. Immediately mas madaming marereach na Filipinos at the grassroots level. At the same time, we will be able to talk to several game developers who would want to be part of GIGA Arena because it's a single platform for all Filipinos," said Melvin Nubla, Smart Communications' First Vice President and Head of Consumer Marketing and Subscriber Base Management.

Besides reaching more people through the Smart GIGA Arena, Dark League Studios' co-founder and CEO AC Valdenor believes the partnership will help promote inclusivity and diversity in the scene, especially with some players having the fear to participate given their gender or age.

"Equality is very important. Gender, age, who you are, you are very welcome in esports. That's why from our perspective, we wanted to open up tournaments, not just for young ones but to senior ones as well. We want to showcase that the likes of players who are in their 40s or 50s are still gamers," said Valdenor.

He addsed: "The platform, with the help of DLS, will allow us to attract all audiences, regardless of [who they are]. Sometimes kasi yung iba kinakabahan sumali ng tournament or to join in kasi natatakot ma judge because of gender or age. Pero with this platform and the partnership with DLS di sila kakabahan sumali ng tournament."