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| Globe Telecom Senior Vice-President and Content Business Group Head Nikko Acosta (Image Source: Philstar.com/Globe Telecom) |
In every difficult situation, there is an opportunity. While the global COVID-19 pandemic forced people to stay in quarantine, it also opened the doors to virtual eSports and new gaming content that help continue to fuel the passion of gamers and eSports enthusiasts. The content traffic of Globe Games and eSports went up to more than double in year-on-year growth according to Globe Telecom Senior Vice President and Content Business Group Head Nikko Acosta.
League of Legends: Wild Rift alone reached 90% of its topline monthly target due to the wireless availability of the game, an area of access which was not available in the past. “Enjoying your passion doesn’t mean it will go away with this pandemic. The nice thing about being online is that as long as you have the time, you’ll be able to invest properly. And since you’re at home, you can also connect to your friends and community to be able to play together,” Acosta said. He added, "The past year-and-a-half has been an opportunity for us. With the right distribution, with the right pricing, with the right infrastructure, we believed the players would come, and they wouldn’t only come, they would stay. And that is something that we’re proud of.”
For eSports, while the core experience of a professional gaming tournament is being physically present to experience it with other players and supporters, Acosta says that eSports remains resilient and easy to fully migrate online. A global phenomenon even before the COVID-19 pandemic, eSports is currently slowly working its way back into the current environment. According to Acosta, Globe has created a digital community to allow fans to watch the tournaments right within the safe comfort of their own homes but still be able to engage with other viewers through chat.
“We do the same with fervor and tenacity to set Esports up, but we do it online. And we have the promise that someday when things open up with the proper safety protocols, we can go back to including our offline events. Esports is thriving because we can create a community digitally. And someday it will be both digital and offline,” Acosta concluded.
