Esports is a completely different ballgame with powerful computers and even faster-moving fingers on the keyboard. But, one of the few things that stay common with sports is the necessity of audience to charge you up. The most wonderful thing about being an athlete is to have a stadium full of people and have them cheer for you through and through, and that is what used to happen in a pre-pandemic world. Be it traditional sport or esport, there would be stadiums packed full of people there who would want to encourage their favourite players.
Ever since the world was hit by a pandemic, sports went behind closed doors, and esports met the same fate– LAN events were cancelled. For over a year and a half now, the fate has been the same, with some ounce of normality rerurning to sports, esports has some hope as well.
So, with everything returning to some kind of normality, PGL, a major esports event organizer, announced that it will require participants and audience has to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 for all its 2022 events.
“I firmly believe the only way to bring back massive LAN esports events is to require complete vaccination of attending players, talent, staff, spectators. We will make this a requirement for all upcoming PGL events in 2022,” PGL president Silviu Stroie said.
PGL is based in Romania and has previously organized DOTA 2 Majors in Asia, FIFA Global Series events, Quake tournaments, and CS:GO events.
It had also handled the CS:GO Major since the Valve-sponsored event that took place in September 2019 in Germany. But after the [andemic hit, a lot of discussions and changes have been made to how LAN events would take place. The $2 million CS:GO tournament will be held in Sweden, from October 26 to November 7, with the final four days being held at Sweden’s Avicii Arena. The tournament was expected to move to a different country because of the Covid-related travel restrictions, but Sweden recently revised those limits for esports athletes, allowing entry regardless of country of origin on the condition they can produce a negative COVID-19 test, Swedish newspaper Expressen reports.
PGL is also co-organizing The International 10 DOTA 2 Championship in Bucharest, Romania this October. The event will similarly require a mask and proof of vaccination, according to Dot Esports.
In India, Skyesports has been doing a phenomenal job in getting on the esports buzz. While the growth of Indian esports has been monumental, it is only limited to an online audience. Without a doubt, India is still battling the pandemic, and online is the nicer route to take, it is not hampering the popularity of esports in the country.
The AMD Ryzen Skyesports Championship 3.0 Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) recently took place and featured 18 of India’s best teams competing for a share of the prize pool and the title of champions. With such high-octane action, a lot of viewers tuned in to the live stream to watch their favorite players compete for glory.
As per data from Esports Charts, the AMD Ryzen Skyesports Championship 3.0 BGMI amassed a peak viewership of 221,089 viewers. The average number of viewers across the seven-day competition was 75,515. The peak viewership came during Match 32 of the championship when the teams were locked in intense fighting during the final few safe zones. Revenant Esports got the chicken dinner in this match.
“The AMD Ryzen Skyesports Championship 3.0 is breaking all records and setting a benchmark for many more esports IPs to come in the future,” said Shiva Nandy, CEO of Skyesports. “A big thank you to all the fans and supporters from the gaming ecosystem in South Asia.”
The action has not ended yet as the Skyesports Championship 3.0 will now shift to Valorant. The qualifiers are currently ongoing. Teams from across South Asia are competing for spots in the playoffs, which will happen from Oct. 8 to 23. The Skyesports Championship 3.0 is presented by AMD Ryzen. Logitech G is the gaming partner while WD Black is the storage partner. Croma is the gaming retail partner and the regional streams are exclusively supported by Facebook.