e-Sports Malaysia (eSM), the official body for electronic sports here in Malaysia will be setting up a branch in Sarawak in efforts of promoting e-Sports in East Malaysia. The e-Sports Malaysia team made a visit to Swinburne’s Sarawak Campus for its Carnival 2015 on the 15th March 2015.
eSM President, Dato Latt Shariman Abdullah announced that the new eSM branch will be opened in Kuching, Sarawak and it will be led by Ian W Lee as its first President. The announcement was made before the Dota 2 semi-final at Swinburne’s Carnival 2015. In efforts of promoting e-Sports in Sarawak, Lee states that he will be visiting higher education institutions throughout Sarawak and Swinburne’s Sarawak Campus is only the first stop.
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Sarawak is the first state eSM visited to promote e-Sports in Malaysia after eSM’s establishment back in January. The body has also registered with the International e-Sports Federation (IeSF), which is the international parent body for e-sports based in South Korea. In addition, Dato Latt mentioned that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) now recognises e-Sports as a sport and the IeSF is working hard to list electronic games as a sport in the Olympics.
e-Sports has come a long way and Malaysia has finally recognised its existence after witnessing several Malaysian players joining the Dota 2 Internationals back in 2013. International e-Sports tournaments now offers large prize pools that beats the FedEx Cup’s prize pool of $10 Million (about RM37,073,000).
The e-Sports industry is finally branching out to Sarawak in search of new talents and to provide support for the competitive e-Sports scene there. e-Sports Malaysia has taken the first step and this will provide passionate gamers the confidence and the proper platform to pursue a career in electronic sports.
[Source: The Borneo Post]
