Amidst the COVID-19 crisis, esports is on a boom with viewership numbers on a steady rise and it’s only about to get bigger with the inaugural Razer Southeast Asian (SEA) Invitational 2020! After the successful debut of esports in the 30th SEA Games 2019, Razer is launching the SEA Invitational 2020 to prepare the region’s athletes and federations for esports inclusion in the 31st SEA Games in Vietnam next year.

With a new and unique online tournament format, the SEA Invitational will kick off on 22 June 2020, culminating in a grand finals on 3 to 5 July 2020. Three games will be featured at this event:

• PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Mobile (PUBG Mobile)
• Defense of the Ancients 2 (Dota 2)
• Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB).

Esports fans can look forward to some hotly contested matches by some of the best players across the region. From one of, if not the, most extensively played battle royale game in PUBG Mobile, to MOBAs in DotA 2 and MLBB, let’s see who gets the gold! Can the Philippines repeat their gold performance at last year’s SEA games?

Tune in to Team Razer’s social channels on YouTube, Facebook and Twitch for the live streams to support your national teams! The SEA Invitational is held in partnership with Tier One Entertainment, one one of the foremost gaming and esports talent agencies in Southeast Asia. They will be in charge of talent promotions and the overall broadcast for the tournament.

“We are excited to partner with a company such as Razer to create a platform for talents to shine.”

“As a premiere talent agency in Southeast Asia, we want to lead initiatives like the SEA Invitational to help develop talents to become Truly Top Tier.”

Tryke Gutierrez, CEO of Tier One Entertainment

The Razer SEA Invitational 2020 is also supported by the various esports federations within Southeast Asia. The 10 countries involved are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The event is only open to qualifying athletes who sign up with their respective esports federations to ensure a high level of competition. Federations will select participating athletes via various qualifiers from May to June 2020. Schedules for the qualifiers will be updated on the official SEA Invitational website.

“One of the lessons gleaned from SEA Games last year was that it is very important to consider feedback from all the federations, getting everyone to align on tournament structures and rules.”

“Razer is on the right track, establishing a planning committee with the SEA esports federations will set the groundwork in preparing for a solid SEA Games next year.”

Joebert Yu, Competition Manager for the 30th SEA Games esports events

As official Esports Partner for SEA Games 2019, Razer forged strong partnerships with the SEA esports federation heads that contributed to the event’s success, held in the Philippines in December 2019, seeing nine nations compete for Gold in six game titles. The same esports organizing committee for SEA Games will also be a part of SEA Invitational, to build the regional esports scene together with the rest of the SEA countries and Razer.

Razer will be establishing a committee to ensure every federation’s voice is heard in terms of gameplay, rules and regulations to provide structure and formalization for the event. The countries involved will be invited to nominate a representative to join the committee.

“The SEA Games 2019 was a new adventure for all of us in the region, with Razer and the federations working in tandem to bring the dreams of many budding esports athletes to life.”

“We hope to extend this dream to many more talented individuals within the region through the SEA Invitational, and hope the athletes can utilize this as preparation to hone their talents and acclimatize to a structure and format similar to SEA Games.”

David Tse, Global Esports Director at Razer

Razer is one of the world’s leading esports brands and has been on a decade-long mission to have esports recognized as a legitimate sport, seeing its efforts come to fruition in the 30th SEA Games.

To continue and accelerate esports’ steady growth, Razer pledges to continue its positive working relationship with the SEA esports federations in developing a structure for esports, elevating it to new heights within the region. This includes:

• Creating a regional competition platform for the national esports athletes to scrim and gain experience as part of their continuous development
• Facilitating a regional community of the esports federations in collaborative ways to align and improve on the competition structure and tournament operation areas
• Bringing in Razer’s international experience and resources to enhance the capability of the esports federations and the readiness of the national teams

You can also learn more about the SEA Invitational on Team Razer’s Facebook page. To learn about Tier One Entertainment, go here.