Riot Games promises more local events after ESGS

MANILA, Philippines — Riot Games' debut in the Philippine convention scene saw blockbuster lines at the developer's booth during the Esports and Gaming Summit (ESGS) over the weekend. Even though Typhoon Paeng hindered most people's plans during the long weekend, Filipino gamers were unperturbed and came out in numbers at the SMX Convention Centre in Pasay City.

It’s [Riot Games'] first time to take part in a convention here in the Philippines and they did it with ESGS and we’re very happy with the turnout," Richard Brojan, CEO and co-founder of ESGS organizer Gariath Concepts, told the media.

Brojan admitted that they were cautious about the summit's schedule during the weekend and had kept their eyes on weather advisories. ESGS eventually pushed through, but it gave gamers the chance to use their Saturday ticket on Sunday instead. Still, gamers attended in huge numbers.

He added: "We didn’t expect a lot of people because of the situation. The turnout [was] really good kahit may bagyo. We’re very happy that we made it possible, despite the storm."

Riot Games debut

Having recently expanded their operations in the Philippines, Riot Games' Country General Manager for the Philippines Joel Guzman mentioned how the developer was very open in partnering with ESGS.

"If we look at ESGS, they are able to do direct player interaction. [It] is one of the most anticipated, most well waited gaming conventions here in the Philippines and so we were definitely open to working with organizations like that," Guzman told the media during the first day of the summit.

As the Platinum Exhibitor, Riot Games' booth saw a huge turnout with around 2,000 booth registrants in just a few hours after ESGS opened.

But what made it a fan favorite during last weekend's summit?

"We really want to delight our fans. That’s always been the blueprint of what Riot Games is. We wanted to delight our current players as well as create opportunities for people who haven't tried our games to like: 'hey what's Valorant all about? What’s Wild Rift all about?' We wanted to have more inclusivity for these players who may not have tried our games yet. So we want to be open to a broader audience as much as we can. We feel that if we do it in a way that we're genuine, authentic, [and] more interactive; [the] more we can listen to feedback from players. We can have a conversation with them. That’s how Riot Games always is. We’re always prioritizing player experience first," explained Guzman.

And even though ESGS has concluded, Guzman vows there is more to come.

"We’re looking to highlight the more hyper local experience. We are planning [and] hyper local is the way to go for us. If we are to create experiences that are local then definitely it’s something that is in our pipeline. We’re really open to experimentation on executions that brings us closer to players’ hearts and minds. COVID has been really tough for us. In terms of offline activities, we weren't able to mount anything from a Philippine standpoint, but we were able to learn a lot from online activities and moving forward we’ll still be doing both online and offline activities because there's impact with offline activities, but also there’s reach with online activity," said Guzman.

With their continued expansion to the Philippines, Guzman is not ruling out having events in the Visayas and Mindanao, especially with the growing popularity of Riot Games' titles all over the country.

"That's always the plan, [to have events in Visayas and Mindanao] because the Philippines is an archipelago. And it’s hard to just focus on Luzon and Metro Manila. I know that we have a lot of gamers in Cebu, a lot of gamers in Cagayan De Oro, and that’s a known fact from our end. There’s also a lot of players in Davao. As I mentioned online, is this reach and offline is the impact. Of course you want to touch people and create an impact with offline events and we're open to expanding it not just in Luzon or in Metro Manila. We’re looking into it," added Guzman.