The XOX Unity League is divided into two categories – Region Master and Grand Master.
From congkak to tic-tac-toe, games figure a lot in our childhood and to some of us they have become very much a part of our lives.
Today, games have taken on a digital form and young people spend hours at the neighbourhood Internet cafe or on their own game consoles at home.
According to games market insight Newzoo, Malaysia has a whopping 20.1 million gamers who have spent some US$673mil (RM2.6bil) on gaming products in 2019 alone.
Worldwide, e-athlete participation garnered revenue growth of about US$950mil (RM3.9bil) in 2020, with a staggering half of that amount coming from South-East Asian countries.
Not missing a beat, mobile network service provider XOX Mobile has ventured into the thrilling world of e-sports this year with the launch of its XOX Unity League.
“As a tech-driven company, we acknowledge the solid growth of e-sports in recent years due to overwhelming participation from gamers all over the globe,” says XOX Mobile chief executive officer Ng Kok Heng.
“We want to be the go-to platform where gamers will come together and show their talents as well as experience the best digital advancement we offer.
“Through our ecosystem, the gamers will also be exposed to exclusive brand collaboration with prominent brands, able to buy and sell products through our extraordinary marketplace which will empower Malaysians to generate income by creating a new economy in our next generation with a comprehensive platform.”
Contestants can win up to RM140,000 in prizes; popular battle royale game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) will be the first mobile game in the series and many others lined up throughout 2021.
The tournament is divided into two categories – Region Master and Grand Master.
Region Master is further divided into five zones: north zone (Jan 16), south zone (Jan 23), central zone (Jan 30), east zone (Feb 6) and Borneo zone (Feb 7).
The Grand Master category is open to 512 teams (March 19-28).
The finale would be held on March 27-28, when the top two teams in each zone, top 16 teams in the Grand Master category and six invited teams will battle for the title of Grand Master and prizes amounting to RM120,560.
XOX’s mission is to empower locals to generate more income and produce talents that could compete on the world stage, and has embraced Malaysia’s e-sports blueprint vision as announced in Budget 2021, with the government allocating RM15mil for the development of e-sports.
To further support the government initiative, XOX would broaden its scope to provide digital content – its first step in rounding out existing services of mobile networks, digital media, e-wallet and marketplace infrastructure. For more information and event details, go to www.facebook.com/xoxunityleague.
