The largest eSports event ever to be held in Macau – a four-day festival of tournaments, conference sessions and cosplay – was announced yesterday at the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute headquarters (IPIM).
The large-scale event, which launches in just under six weeks, is the first of its kind in the city.
Named after its cast of eight all-female competitor teams, Girl Gamer eSports Festival is the single most ambitious project of local association Grow uP eSports following two years of relentless work to mature the city’s virtual gaming scene.
“We are empowering [women] in eSports and bringing a new set of tourists to come to Macau,” said association chairman Frederico Santos Rosário at a press conference yesterday.
Girl Gamer will be hosted in Studio City’s Grand Ballroom, where up to 2,000 spectators can watch the eight teams contest two major tournaments, vying for the biggest share of a USD30,000 total prize pool.
Organizers say that they will broadcast the festival in English and Mandarin on some of the largest live-streaming platforms in the world, reaching a “guaranteed” minimum of three million people.
“The three-million figure is actually a little pessimistic,” said Santos Rosário. “This is a guaranteed number, [… but] we believe that our growth over the next few months means we can probably double that [number].”
Girl Gamer kicks off with a tour of some of the city’s World Heritage Sites on August 31. Iconic tourist destinations, such as the Taipa Houses Museum, Senado Square, St. Paul’s Ruins, Mount Fortress and A-Ma Temple, will be included in the tour.
A “business conference” is planned for the festival’s second day, covering topics such as the role of eSports in Macau’s economic and tourism diversification, and a session titled “Road to the Olympics: the future of eSports as a sport.”
The final days of Girl Gamer are dedicated to eSports competitions, with two invitational tournaments and an “open tournament” for mobile strategy game Clash Royale. Both men and women can participate.
Cosplay, a performance art where participants dress up as fictional characters, will also be included at a special showcase event on the festival’s final day. The phenomenon will spill over to various sites across the MSAR, including the Macau Ferry Terminal, to promote the festival to tourists.
“At the moment, most of the [tourist] demographic is coming to gamble,” said association president, Fernando Pereira. “We are offering something else for them to do. […] Casinos are really jumping into [eSports] in Las Vegas and we are seeing the same now happening in Macau.”
The timing of the all-female tournament seems opportune. While they still represent the minority, female gamers are now among the most-subscribed social influencers in the eSports community and command an increasing presence in global eSports competitions.
Citing data from Newzoo’s 2017 Global eSports Market Report, Girl Gamer organizers said that some 29 percent of the 191 million eSports enthusiasts worldwide are female, with half of them aged between 21 and 35.
Brigite Amaral, who was present for the unveiling of Girl Gamer yesterday, says she used to consider herself one of them. Though the games she used to play, Street Fighter and World of Warcraft, will not be featured, she nevertheless plans to attend.
“I love games and I’m not tired of them,” she told the Times yesterday. “I’m just quite busy with work so I don’t get the chance to play them much anymore.”
“Even though I don’t really know about the games at the festival, or the female players [of these games], I will increase my interest by going to the festival. I want to know more about it.”
Girl Gamer is sponsored by IPIM, the Macau Government Tourism Office and Studio City, among other contributors.
