Singtel sponsors SG e-sports team headed to SEA Games

Singtel has partnered with the Singapore E-sports Association to sponsor Singapore's Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) e-sports team. The sponsorship will entail funding for training, competitions and player stipends, as well as a scholarship component that gives access to educational opportunities.Simultaneously, the telco will appoint Singtel PVP ambassadors under the PVP E-sports banner in a bid to cultivate the budding gaming and e-sports scene in Singapore. The ambassadors will be e-sports teams and players in Singapore such as RZR Xian, Resurgence and Asterisk*. The brand ambassadorship will be a one year contract, with option to renew. Singtel aims to support these ambassadors through the sponsorship.Responding to media queries, Singtel CEO Arthur Lang said that Singtel will work closely with the ambassadors on community engagement activities and social content development. He added that the sponsorship details are "deliberately" kept broad as it is in the midst of finalising the spectrum of the deal. Lang declined to disclose the sponsorship amount.New leagues to openAs part of its efforts to grow the local community's interests for the development of the gaming scene, Singtel will be doubling down on its community engagement efforts. With the PVP community, the telco will be opening up two new leagues – PVP Campus and PVP Corporate, for amateur gamers to come together for friendly competition.The PVP Corporate League will be a regional league open to all working professionals that will feature mobile/desktop games such as Mobile Legends and DOTA 2. Through this league, Singtel aims to enable professionals, who are also gaming enthusiasts, to meet, play and interact through common passion, fostering relationships between both gamers and companies in the region.Meanwhile, the PVP Campus League will be a local league for tertiary students. This is done in partnership with local universities such as Singapore Institute of Management, Singapore Management University, National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Institute of Technology and Singapore University of Technology and Design. Singtel looks to nurture students' interests and encourage them to pursue their passion for gaming. Both leagues will culminate in a finale event to be held in Singapore in the second half of 2019.With these initiatives in place, Singtel has bagged official e-sports partners for the SEA Games such as Huawei, Great Eastern, SecretLab and Razer. Lang also said that more companies will be coming onboard, including partners from last year's PVP E-sports Championship. Not disclosing more details, he added that Singtel will be scaling up by developing more services and offering more content to gamers.Lang said that as the popularity of e-sports and gaming is increasing "exponentially", Singtel aims to grow the gaming ecosystem in the region, further driving recognition in Asia, to provide fans more opportunities to share in their passion. "Community is a foundation of gaming and we’re excited to support them with these new initiatives. We want the community here to ‘get gaming’," he added.Ng Chong Geng, SGEA’s president said that both SGEA and Singtel are committed to the growth of e-sports in Singapore and looks to collaborate with other like-minded partners moving forward.Chee Hong Tat, senior minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry & Ministry of Education, who was also the guest-of-honour at the launch event, said that the growth of e-sports and its related industries present the youths and workers with "interesting" job opportunities. He added that industry players such as Singtel can play a key role to help these individuals gain skills and knowledge to benefit from these new pathways.Read also:Singtel and Razer launch regional e-sports games, eye digital content growthSingtel and Razer give gaming-related digital media a much needed push