The growth of Esports in the past decade has been very rapid – From a small, niche community into a billion-dollar global industry. Video games, if not Esports is considered by many as the best form of entertainment. It seems like we haven’t even hit our prime with Esports, as we keep hearing astonishing and exciting news very often. I’ll be covering one such news in this article – Global Esports Federation, backed by Tencent has been launched in Singapore.
Global Esports Federation was launched just yesterday and it has Tencent listed as its ‘founding global partner’. Tencent is a Chinese multinational conglomerate holding company, and Tencent games is one of their subsidiaries. During the launch, Global Esports Federation mentioned that they have 5 key objectives.
- To encourage and support the establishment of national esports federations with a set of relevant standards, guidelines and regulations
- To establish an athlete commission, with a focus on athlete well-being, development of standards for fair play, career support, and education to ensure safe, doping-free and ethically-compliant practices
- To convene and stage esports competitions, conventions, fora and development programs.
- To develop world-class governance structures and guidelines
- To stage an annual Global Esports Games, with the first edition likely to be in China at the end of next year.
On paper, it seems like Esports would benefit a lot from their objectives. However, many fear that Esports would not remain the same if it goes mainstream. And all these objectives make it seem like the organization wants to change Esports into a section of regular sports, making it mainstream. Hopefully, GEF consists of passionate gamers which won’t let this happen.
Getting back to the news, Global Esports Federation will be hosting a yearly tournament – Global Esports Games. Simply put, an Esports World Cup. GEF president Chris Chan said that he hopes that Global Esports Games would attract players and teams seeking to compete for national pride, rather than just money.
“At the moment, there’s a lot of money involved in Esports. At the end of it all, some people want to participate for the pride of the flag on the chest, not just money. We hope to eventually turn the narrative around a bit and say: yes, it’s about money, but it’s also about pride of representing your country at the highest level.”
We are excited to see what Global Esports Federation brings to the table and are hoping for the best. What are your thoughts on this newly formed federation? Let us know in the comments down below.
I write about Dota 2, Esports and Gaming in general. I’d love it if you followed me on Twitter and Facebook. Thanks for reading.
Featued Image Credits: Global Esports Federation Instagram page.
