Every year, ESGS keeps getting better and better.

ESGS is one of the most anticipated events of the year. With amazing sponsors and exhibitors, bringing international brands here in the Philippines and making the whole gaming community excited about what they have to offer every single year.

Esports and Gaming Summit, or as we call ESGS, started way back in 2014 when a group of men decided to why not make an event that is focused on esports and video games. And they did make it happen, the first ESGS event happened at SMX Convention Center last November 2014. Showing off the local gaming developers from different universities like iAcademy, De La Salle of Saint Benilde, UP Diliman and many more. It was surprising that we have students and courses for these kinds of games.

I remember that Joebert once said “ESGS is perhaps the largest gaming convention to happen in the Philippines, with more than a handful of tournaments, games, and game developers showing the very best of gaming for Two consecutive days. You cannot miss it.” And indeed, ESGS is now the largest gaming convention in the Philippines. From two day event, they are now on a three-day event and a media/business day.

This year, ESGS brought one of the biggest names in the gaming industry and it is none other than, Nintendo. For the past couple of years, they have been trying to have Nintendo come to the Philippines and successfully they did this year. Nintendo brought some awesome games for the gaming community to played with. Different variety of Switch games namely: Mario Party, Just Dance 2020, Super Mario Odyssey, Pokemon Let’s Go: Pikachu and Eeve, and many more. It is impossible to miss their booth its because it is huge and Pikachu and Eeve are sometimes on the said booth to entertain guests.

Aside from the big names, they haven’t forgotten the main purpose, the Indie Fiesta wherein students from different universities come over and show off the games they have made for all to try. Some of the games are available in iTunes store and Google App store. I tried a few of the games and it is quite entertaining.

Booths

There are a lot of booths this year in ESGS but despite the different sizes of booths, they made sure that the crowd can still walk around freely with the big space they have allotted. They have separated the booths per category: Indie Fiesta, Fighting Game Area, the Main Stage, and exhibitors/sponsors.

It is quite amazing that some of the exhibitors/sponsors have their own stage, having their own program while the crowd still focuses on the main stage wherein the team is Cyberpunk. The amount of work and design they have put on the mainstage is amazing. It’s not like any other stage that we have witnessed in the past years.

Artist alley has its own specific location as well wherein they showcase their wonderful arts from drawing to painting and many more. It’s amazing that they have a variety of artworks that they sell, some focused on game characters, some are from anime characters and there are some they showcased their own form of art. We have so many talented people here in the Philippines and they are lately being noticed around the world.

Next is the Indie Fiesta section, before there aren’t many indie games being featured and yet people still try them out, but this year, there are a lot of different universities and students who came in and showcased their awesome game developments. I was able to try a few and I may say, I can play them with ease and most of them are now available in Google Apps Store or Apple Store.

Security

It’s amazing how the security they hired in ESGS. Everyone is following orders as well as it is well maintained. They made sure that there aren’t any food or drinks coming in the event since what’s inside are more on the gaming peripherals as well as the tech booths in every single place you go, it is best to keep it at that so there won’t be any technical difficulties that may happen.

Overall

I have been covering ESGS since its 1^st event and I may say that keep on improving every single year and giving the best of the best they have to offer. It all started with the whole ground floor of SMX being rented and yet like half of it was only filled with exhibitors, gaming arena, artist alley, and the stage itself. People flock the place and it was a success despite that amount of people came in. They wanted another one the year after that. Which they gave it and it was better and they still are till today.

It is quite amazing that from a group of men, showing their love for games and esports has made a huge impact on today’s community. We now have a Philippine Esports Team called Sibol, they will be competing in this year’s SEA Games that will be held here in the Philippines on November 30 – December 11.

A lot of companies wanting to be exhibitors to showcase what they have to offer to those gamers/enthusiasts that want to build their own gaming PC, upgrade, incoming games, and many more. Artists, gaming peripheral companies are flocking ESGS and everyone didn’t expect such amazing management is in place to cater to them all.

ESGS is the only gaming convention that everyone is waiting not because of the competitions, artists that are being asked to visit booths and play, international companies coming in, but each and every one that attends the convention are giving insights and advice on what they can improve on their characters in-game, what gaming peripheral is best on their computer, meeting co-teammates in online games in person, and the enjoyment of seeing that you aren’t the only one who enjoy playing games.

ESGS catered to all kinds of games, from board games to card games, console gaming, and pc games. They made sure that what each person plays are there. And that’s what is wonderful for ESGS. Everyone enjoys and get the best deals.