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ESPORTS & GAMING
P RO GAMING has weathered the Covid storm better than most other competitions. Esports is inherently decentralised. Plus, the industry has an ingrained willingness to be flexible in its use of tech. Taking advantage of respite periods from the pandemic, last year’s esports calendar returned to in-venue productions. The ONE Singapore Major was the first offline Dota 2 major to return to the real world since the first outbreak. Organised by ONE Esports, the Singapore Tourism Board and esports content producer PGL, the event featured 18 teams, competing from 27 March to 4 April 2021 at the Fairmont Singapore hotel. It was the first Dota 2 major to be broadcast in 4K/60fps, and the second-most successful Dota 2 major ever – peaking at 605,335 concurrent viewers. QUALITY VS COVID Romanian event broadcaster PGL was founded in 2002, before becoming a pioneer producer in the early days of Eastern European esports. “We are very proud to say that several generations of gamers have countless memories of PGL from the dawn of the Romanian esports scene,” says PGL CEO and founder Silviu Stroie. “At some point, we
host numerous events and, across a couple of games, some of the most successful tournaments ever.” Like most broadcasters, PGL was affected significantly by pandemic caution. Travel stopped, venues were closed and esports was forced to revert to its all-digital roots. The company opted for online delivery for most of the 2020 schedule. “Each industry experienced a series of challenges throughout this period – we had to adapt,” says Stroie. “This wasn’t a big problem for us, because we are known for our innovative way of doing things. The biggest difference is that we were doing a lot of remote production, with talents and teams being localised all over the world.” Maintaining quality was PGL’s priority. It hosted successful online events, including the FIFA Summer Cup Series for Middle East/Africa and Asia, Quake Pro League Season 2, plus the PGL Apex Legends Showdown. “We still do things how they are supposed to be done, and now we have a few backup plans for every production – the pandemic taught us that. Right now, we can comfortably say that 2020 was better for us than 2019.” MAJOR SUCCESS The Singapore Major was a world premiere for PGL. As the first company to bring a Dota 2 major to the public since the start of the pandemic, the pressure was on.
Key player: With nearly 20 years at PGL, Silviu Stroie is proud to have served Eastern European gamers
realised that we had a lot to offer the global esports family. Subsequently, the past five years have been incredible for us. We’ve managed to “EACH INDUSTRY EXPERIENCED A SERIES OF CHALLENGES THROUGHOUT THIS PERIOD – WE HAD TO ADAPT”
FEED:XTREME MAY/JUNE 2022
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