Round 12 of the PUBG tournament was a
huge highlight as Team Immunity dominated
with 20 kill points, which was the highest
number of kills in any round of the tournament.
Team Immunity’s Nick101 also ranked second
overall for kills in the competition, clocking up- These kind of numbers show that ANZ has
a serious chance at taking a Predator League
win in the near future.
PCPP:And what does Acer get out of this?
Brand recognition would seem big, but what are
the other advantages of supporting eSports? And
PUBG specifically?
Darren:We recognise the importance of
buildinga strong presence in esport within our
region, and are working closely with our retail
partner Harvey Norman to develop talent.
Predator League is key to developing this
presence — acting as a testing ground for our
computers and allowing us to be more involved
with our audience by creating an organic
opportunity to talk with them and understand
what they want from Predator as a brand and
as a hardware provider.
In terms of why PUBG, this game was
selected following research within the region
examining which games resonate well with the
players. In APAC, Dota 2 and PUBG
ranked highly.
PCPP:Looking closer to home, what is Acer
doingto help the local eSports scene grow
and mature?Darren:Within Acer, Predator is becoming
increasingly important and is a major focus
for the business. In Australia, we’re opening
up dedicated online channels to connect with
players and are in the process of developing
grassroots initiatives to be activated in the
coming year, which will feed into the qualifiers
for Predator League 2020 in the Philippines.
In the near future, we’ve increased our
engagement with IEM and will have a big
presence at the event in Sydney this May.
There’s plenty more in the pipeline, but we’re
not able to give more details at this stage.
PCPP:Does the region present any unique
challengesin that regard?
Darren:ANZ is a challenging market for
esportathletes. Most of the teams competing
at the Asia Pacific Predator League participate
regularly in major and minor esport leagues,
but Australia and New Zealand don’t have this
competition infrastructure to develop talent.
When competing at a high level in any
sport, being able to gain experience on the
competitive stage is essential for taking world
titles in the future, and Australian teams don’t
have access to these testing grounds. This
makes it even more impressive that Team
Immunity were able to perform to such a high
standard, and take third place in the PUBG
competition this year.
With these challenges in mind, it’s a priority
for Predator to develop more competition
events within Australia, and continue building a
brand that has a history and plays a key role in
competitive esport.
PCPP:Thanks for supporting the local
scene!esports newsWMostoftheteamscompetingattheAsiaPacificPredatorLeagueparticipate
regularlyinmajorandminoresportleagues,butAustraliaandNewZealand
don’t have this competition infrastructure to develop talent.