All systems go for maiden 'Esports Estudyante' tilt

MANILA, Philippines – The biggest campus esports league in the country is on. 

Over 500 schools all over the archipelago will duke it out for four major titles in the inaugural Esports Estudyante: The National Championships by Dark League Studios starting on Monday, October 14. 

The ever-popular Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB), Valorant, Tekken 8 and League of Legends are the four Esports events to be at stake among over 3,000 participating students for a whopping prize pool of P1.6 million. Team games MLBB, Valorant and League of Legends will have P500,000 prize each for the champion school while P100,000 is alloted for the individual event Tekken. 

“The Eports Estudyante national championship seeks to promote fun and healthy competition to find the best talents in the country. It’s an avenue for all student-athletes to compete, forge camarederie and bring pride to their school,” said Esports Estudyante program director Alexander Kibanoff, joined by marketing head Wrexler Bayani  

“It’s the flasghip project of Estudtyante Esports program, aimed at bringing esports to the schools for a potential career path in this sector. On top of that, it’s to hail the best collegiate Esports players in the land.”

The National Championships will have four regional qualifiers from October to February in Metro Manila, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao with the top two teams from each leg advancing to the national playoffs — mirroring the national tournaments in traditional sports like basketball and volleyball from the champions of UAAP, NCAA, CESAFI and other leagues.  

From there, only the top 2 teams will advance and fly to Manila for the one-one-one grand finals on Feb. 22 to 23 for a chance at bringing home school pride and the luxurious pool prizes. 

But there’s more to it than just games and prizes for DLS, led by chairman and co-founder Bobby Rosales, co-founder and chief marketing officer Alfrancis Chua, and CEO and also co-founder AC Valdenor, in launching the breakthrough Estudyante Esports National Championships. 

For DLS which also organized the historic UAAP Esports, the Estudyante Esports is for the country’s future, putting premium to championing the relentlesss growth of Esports from the academe and up. 

“We have to plant the right seeds to the students with responsible Esports gaming. The growth of Philippine Esports should start from the students and schools, and that’s through the Estudyante Esports,” said Valdenor.

“The Estudyante National Championships is to ensure a sustainable campaign for Esports in the academe, providing an avenue for all the schools from different regions and leagues to play against each other. The mission is make Esports not only an entertainment platform but a career opportunity for students.”

PHOTO CAPTION: (L-R) Estudyante Esports marketing head Wrexler Bayani, Dark League Studios CEO AC Valdenor, chairman Bobby Rodales and program director Alexander Kibanoff during the media launch of the inaugural Esports Estudyante: The National Championships yesterday at the DLS headquarters in Quezon City.