The Pro-Series Gaming Africa Tournament 2018, the most decorated gaming event of the year took place at the Planet Media Cinemas in Prestige Plaza. This time the game of competition was Mortal Kombat XL, as compared to last year’s PSG Tournament which was Call of Duty: World War II. MK-XL is one this generation’s biggest fighting games packed with extreme brutal action.
This year’s event was extremely spectacular. The various partners of PSG-Africa, never at any moment disappoint the crowds. Starting from the Free-Wi-Fi Connectivity provided by Liquid-Telecom, running at speeds of 750mbps, to the stage set up by Naiccon. The stage was set up well right from the lights to the screens and the presentation animations, from a gamer’s perspective, everything was just awesome. Other sponsorships included refreshments from Red Bull, sound systems by Mo-Sound, broadcasting by Kwese TV and NRG Wave.
So much for the sideshows, 2 pm was the game time. The tournament brought 40 contestants from Africa for the qualifiers stage. After much hustle and bustle with the pads, the matchup was down to 8 people, battling for the coveted trophy and cash prize of Kshs. 500,000. Question: What will you do with Kshs. 500,000 if you got it right now?
The competition was tight between the contestants. It was very unpredictable. One point, the contestants could play up to fifteen rounds, in one of the best matchup ever witnessed in that whole tournament. This was between Zambia’s player Mwelele alias Zaza and our own local player Ariba alias ‘ArybaStacks’, which ended in a very emotional moment when Zaza clenched the win into the semis. The moment of truth was between Justin Banda of Zambia alias Mr. 5000 and the crowd’s favourite local Kevin Omondi alias Priest. It was all about the adrenaline, determination and composure. The stakes were high in this last matchup until the fat lady sung and Justin Banda (Mr. 5000) quenched the trophy plus the cash prize. The MC was like, “Apparently, Mr. 5000, has just become Mr. 500,000” lol.
The event was also live-streamed for those at home who wanted to catch the action they missed out on. You can check out the link below for more. You can also find their photos on their Pro Series Gaming Facebook and Twitter handles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NShK-vZPAI&t=960s
The gaming industry in Kenya is still an emerging industry in Kenya and East Africa that delivers a growth of 25% per year. According to Global Research Company Statista, top new gaming nations in Africa include Egyptian games industry; Kshs. 19.3bn ($193m), Nigerian games industry; Kshs. 17.3bn ($173m), and South Africa gaming industry at Kshs. 1.8bn ($18m). But with the increasing demands of internet connectivity and the rising percent of network coverage in the country, this industry is paving its way to be appreciated more and more by people.
Various industry players are coming aboard to help drive this development within the country and Africa at large. Liquid Telecom, for example, started off this initiative in Uganda, where they supported a local gaming community, Gamers Nights, to provide data Centre-hosted servers sophisticated enough to provide the ultimate gaming experience within the regional borders. “Overall, this industry is a huge opportunity across Africa, and offering it free support, reliable high capacity infrastructure and incubation is the fastest way we see of converting that into an employment and economic reality,” said Ben Roberts, Chairman of Liquid Telecom Kenya and Group Chief Technology and Innovation Officer for Liquid Telecom.
There is a lot of opportunities for this industry to grow, and it would be important to invest in the gaming industry as it can create jobs and opportunities for young people to keep busy.
