TY Media, a local company that specialises in organising e-sports events, is partnering with Vietnam's Mineski Global to jointly develop e-sports in Cambodia, including bolstering efforts at competing for medals at the upcoming 32nd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games hosted by the Kingdom.
E-sports is a catch-all term that refers to competitive video game competitions that typically involve teams of players going head to head playing the most popular titles from the genres best suited to the format, such as first person shooters.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the companies affirmed that they will jointly facilitate the establishment of communication networks that allow the creation and exchange of information.
The MoU also details mechanisms for technical and financial cooperation for Cambodia's institutions in the field of e-sports.
"Signing the MoU at this time will make a significant contribution to training for e-sports in Cambodia with the goal to become a real gaming venue. Then our professional teams will be able to compete with professional teams of other countries, such as the Philippines, which has players with a very high level of skill, so we'd better be careful," said TY Media.
Lon Samedy, secretary-general of the E-sports Federation of Cambodia (EFC), witnessed the signing ceremony of the MoU and expressed hope that TY Media and Mineski Global will jointly create e-sports events in the Kingdom to give players the opportunity to compete, learn advanced techniques and strengthen their capabilities.
"We hope that joining forces with the Vietnamese side will bring more formal and standardised competitions, and we also expect TY Media and Mineski Global to bring in international competition events for e-sports to Cambodia.
"For example, we expect that they will bring the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Southeast Asia Cup (MSC) event to Cambodia next year," he said.
The 2022 MSC in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia had 12 teams from nine countries competing for a total prize pool of $300,000.
"This effort is not only for ourselves and the e-sports, but we are working for the nation, because the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia will come in May, so we must improve our capabilities on the international stage to make sure that the e-sports showing by Cambodia is strong," he said.
Chea Chanboribo, president of the EFC and secretary of state for the Ministry of Information, had previously said that his vision was to make e-sports accepted in Cambodia as a real sports competition involving highly skilled players, and to do that e-sports in the Kingdom needs to be transparent in its operations and viewed as trustworthy by all competitors.
"We need to maintain fair play, because if we cannot maintain fair play then we cannot strengthen the sector. So I call on all stakeholders: If you want to organise anything in the field of e-sports, you should ask for cooperation from the federation so that we can help you organise it and orient it in a way that supports its development as a real sport," Chanboribo told The Post.
