Many Filipino gaming enthusiasts are ecstatic about Galaxy Battles
2018: Emerging Worlds which is a few days away and they are delightful to enjoy
and indulge on watching their favorite DOTA 2 teams in action in the
prestigious pro gaming tourney especially our own TNC Pro Gaming and Mineski,
but their delightment would become a concern as the event is yet to prove its resilience
on going through.
On January 5, 2018, Valve Corporation announced on the official DOTA 2
blog that it has withdrawn the Major status for Galaxy Battles 2018 which is a surprising
development for those who have a keen eye on what is going on in the local pro
gaming scene, and we have learned that it is because Valve has doubts on the
Philippine government's newly-released e-sports regulations. With that in mind,
it looks like the biggest DOTA 2 tournament in Southeast Asia won't be the
first official Major event of 2018 which is why Team Liquid and Virtus.Pro
officially backed out of the tourney.
Following these developments, I learned more about these regulations
and I found out that there are a few regulations which make sense such as the classification
of gaming tournaments with a prize pool of US$200 and above as professional events,
while some may probably cause some doubts on local and international pro gamers
such as the requirement to take the drug test. However, regulations aside, the
organizers have stated that the Galaxy Battles event will go on scheduled and
it seems that many of the participants are not going to back down.
