Walking towards the Esports Summit 2019 through The Field‘s gate, you get to experience unity, passion and joy as everyone was laughing, taking selfies, and strangers engaging as they line up in the queue to register for the long awaited gaming experience.
Some would argue that esports and video games are a waste of money and time, but actually it is an industry that is worth over a billion dollars, and it has millions of fans and participants. This is why Gamers Lounge and The Worx organized the event in a coherent way, to showcase the Egyptian esports scene and its eco-system.
The summit had ongoing tournaments throughout three days, and some of the gamers got a taste of the mouth watering 350,000 LE prize pool, while Red Bull M.E.O tournaments’ winners reserved a seat at the world finals, and others got the chance to win free giveaways and gifts.
Among these winners were teams Anubis Gaming and KNK, who won in the League of Legends tournament, Team QLash won the Brawl Stars tournament, Placido won the Hearthstone tournament, and The Awesome who is also a member of YaLLa Esports, won the Clash Royale tournament.
“Everything we do is for the community, we want to help gamers out of passion, we want them to get the chance to do what they love. Our optimum goal is to have a great esports future for Egyptians and Arabs, and we won’t stop until we achieve it. We believe that we deserve a spot in the global scene, we want to let the world know that we are talented and that we deserve recognition,” Gamers Lounge co-founder, Hashem El Borno said.
The esports industry has a lot of money in it that doesn’t only circulate between gamers and fans, in fact there are other industries that are affiliated to its financials. During the summit, various stores got the exposure they deserve, to showcase their local made products, such as bracelets, pins, masks, t-shirts, posters, and various merchandise. Also, they got to prove that Egypt can rely on its handcrafts and become less dependent on imported goods, as a lot of attendees surrounded their booths to get their hands on their favorite gaming-related and anime-based products.
“The ecosystem is already here in Egypt, we have the gamers, games, developers, professionals, tournaments, merchandise, you name it. In my opinion, it is a huge system that needs room to grow, support, and awareness from people and brands, they have to capitalize on it and accept it as many multinationals are already investing in this direction, such as Louis Vuitton,” Managing Partner at The Worx, Mai Salama said.
Salama stated that Egypt has more professional players than any Arab country, the industry’s growth is huge and it is very diverse, and that is why the organizers want to approach them and support them, and why she believes that this is the optimum time to invest in the booming industry.
“We hope that gamers would keep on working on themselves and focus on their targets, they can get coaches, critique their game play and if they are seeking help, we will help them gladly as we aim to promote the esports industry in Egypt,” El Borno added.
Cosplay is also a gaming branch that is booming. The cosplay gaming competition organized by Egy Con was one of the most anticipated events of the summit, as passionate fans got a chance to be in their favorite character’s shoes in front of numerous people. However, it is not as easy as it looks, as these people spent a significant amount of time to produce their customized costumes, which proves that the passion for gaming challenges the creativity and productivity of individuals.
The excitement level increased throughout the tournaments as the games were getting more intense, and the gamers’ families and friends kept on rooting and supporting them. Attendees got to experience sportsmanship among gamers, and age was just a number at the summit as everyone engaged and competed with one another.
