Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup scores big on popularity meter, concludes with a spectacular finale bringing together India’s best gaming talents.

Mumbai: India’s biggest and most venerated DOTA 2 tournament, the “Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup”, came to a close after its high-voltage finale round was held on September 16 and 17 at Infinity 2 Mall, Malad (West), Mumbai. A total of 12 teams qualified for the grand finale, which saw an impressive display of some of the latest lifestyle products from Taiwan Excellence, including sleek tablets, smartphones, gaming technology, leisure, and travel related products. The following 12 Taiwan Excellence brands sponsored the event, Adata, Optoma, INWIN, D-Link, MSI, Transcend, Gigabyte, ASUS, Acer, Genius, Zyxel and Thermaltake.

The winning team, Invisible Wings, walked away with a whopping Rs 2 lakh as cash prize at one of the most awaited and biggest DOTA 2 Gaming Championships in the country. Beyond Infinity won the second place and took home Rs 80,000 and StanDin 5 secured the third spot and received Rs 40,000 in prize money. The others also got plenty of gaming equipment sponsored by Taiwan Excellence brands.

This stunning event is a part of the 2016 Taiwan Excellence Campaign in India. The Taiwan Excellence Campaign is organized by the Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) and implemented by TAITRA. After running two extremely successful editions in the previous two years, this year, the third stint of the distinguished gaming tournament came to India in a much bigger forum thanks to an overwhelming response for both its past versions. This year, four more cities were added to its itinerary and Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup hosted elimination rounds in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata as well in addition to Mumbai and Delhi. A total of 378 teams that included 40 teams from Delhi, 50 teams from Hyderabad, 55 teams from Mumbai, 77 teams from Bangalore, 64 teams from Chennai, and 92 teams from Kolkata. The participants have almost doubled in comparison to last year. The nation wide championship was extremely popular among avid gamers.

This year, the Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup also included Cosplay to bring in more fun and excitement. Cosplay, a contraction of the words “costume play”, is a performance art in where participants wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character from a game or animation. People were asked to upload their Cosplay images at http://tegamingcup.com/cosplay/about.php along with a little note on why they chose to dress up as that particular character. Six finalists who garnered the maximum number of votes for their images were invited to Mumbai to help create a fun environment the Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup finale.

The challenge saw games like DOTA 2 (Steam version) in Competition Method with 5 versus 5 (team play, 5 players per team), and Game Mode in Captains Mode, being played in nail-biting matches. The participants, as well as the crowd, consisted of avid gamers and techies. The Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup outdid most other contests on the popularity meter. The event was also streamed live on Twitch TV.

In the recent past, the gaming culture has upended many other forms of entertainment across the world to become one of the most popular and widely-enjoyed forms of entertainment. Prize money is soaring into big bucks, and top players are known to earn six or seven-figure incomes and attract passionate followings worldwide. According to some reports, the global gaming industry is growing rapidly at a CAGR (Compound annual growth rate) of 5.7%. The global value is estimated to reach a staggering $93.18bn by 2019.

In India too, gaming is picking up fast and its supporters are only too vociferous in their demand for bigger avenues to display their combat skills. Providing them with a stupendous platform over the past two years has been the Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup – a tournament that has created for itself millions of fans across the country.

Speaking about the tournament, the Director of the Mumbai office of TAITRA, Mr. Michael Lin, said, “Over the last two years, the Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup has gained stupendous popularity in India. In fact, it has garnered such a fan-following that gamers were waiting for us to come back with the third edition. Owing to an overwhelming positive response and demand for more cities, we added four more cities — Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata. The prize money is also bigger this year and I am sure that gamers will agree that this has been a great platform to showcase their gaming skills as well as to showcase Taiwan excellence products. Taiwan Excellence award-winning Brands also provide lots of cutting-edge gaming equipment to facilitate the cup. We sincerely hope that every gamer in India could get the best gaming experience with Taiwan Excellence products.”

ACER, who was associated with the event last year, came back this year again as sponsor. Said Chandrahas Panigrahi, Senior Director and Consumer Business Head of Acer India, “The interest in gaming has increased significantly in India over the last couple of years. We are glad to have forged a partnership with the Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup because such tie-ups provide a platform for avid gamers to come together and compete in gaming tournaments at a professional level. Such big scale events encourage gamers to take pride in their gaming abilities and this fans their passion for gaming even more. Professional eSports has now turned into a source of income, and with good sponsorships it could perhaps follow the model of IPL.”

Ashwin Jain, the Assistant Manager of the ASUS Gaming System Business Group-India, agrees, “The Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup is a big platform for Indian gamers and for ASUS as well. The scale of the event is enhanced each year to reach out to more and more gamers that helps us to connect with the gaming community with the newest technology.”

Darshan Bata, Captain of the winning team Invisible Wings, said, “We are elated to have won in a gaming tournament as big as the Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup. The prize money too is good and it is a great motivation for people like us to pursue our passion in gaming. The entire set up of the event was amazing.”

Moin Ejaz, Captain of Beyond Infinity, the 1st runner-up, said, “The Taiwan Execllence Gaming Cup is one of the best gaming events in India. There is always something new to look forward to and the prize money is always big. Events such as these are a mecca for people like us who are passionate about gaming. We are looking forward to becoming winners in the Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup 2016.”

Standing firm as the 19th largest economy in the world, with a well-developed capitalist economy, Taiwan has proven itself to be a major player in the market. With events like the Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup, Taiwan is looking at finding a firm footing in the Indian gaming market.