Southeast Asia (SEA) as a scene for esports was always in a curious state. Occasionally, there’d be moments of brilliance, with a miracle run getting a team deep into some of the biggest global stages of esports; however those moments were few and far between, especially for First Person Shooter (FPS) titles. But now more than ever, we’re seeing multiple teams from SEA at some of the highest levels of FPS esports. So what’s brought this change?
VALORANT. And with its arrival, a new era. It already had many things going for it from the start: a wide array of intriguing characters, with interesting colorful abilities, a fun game loop inspired by tried and tested ideas that have influenced many shooter games of the past, and of course, it’s made by quite a familiar company to the Asian market, Riot Games.
MOBA’s were definitely some of the most played games in the region during the mid-2010s, League of Legends being one of the titles decently popular in gaming cafes all around SEA. And hums of their developer making an FPS title already had heads turning toward the prospect of a shooter in the market.
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Now don’t get me wrong, there were many FPS games that grew quite large in SEA; titles like Crossfire, Blackshot, Special Force, Point Blank, and even Counter-Strike 1.6 all had some of SEA’s best players compete in them and attract attention; we even used to cover Counter-Strike over here at CSGO2ASIA. Though aside from CS 1.6, none of these titles had much or any international pull, especially to the Western audience. It was hard to claim these games as truly global titles, and because of that, SEA was often forgotten.
But VALORANT changed it all—more specifically, the support and structure it brought with it to the region. For once, there was a clear path forward, one that showed signs of a better future and opportunities for SEA players. And who better to talk to about it than one of the players who experienced it first-hand; Jayvee “DubsteP” Paguirigan is a professional player for Oasis Gaming and formerly was of the infamous Team Secret squad that qualified for VALORANT Champions 2021. He also competed in other FPS titles before VALORANT, being part of RRQ’s and Mineski’s Counter-Strike team at one point in time.
We had a chance to talk to him about his experience coming from being a professional FPS player in SEA before and after VALORANT launched. Listen to what he had to say below:
“It was impossible to earn a living in the FPS scene before VALORANT.”
“I think before VALORANT, locally speaking it was really tough. I mean, there weren’t any organizations that could really sustain a competing team if I should describe it. I think it’s also tough cause a lot of people don’t really recognize FPS as ours. A lot of the people in the Philippines don’t recognize the Philippines as one of the FPS [regions] like Europe, NA, and Brazil. And when people hear about Southeast Asia, they automatically think that the FPS scene is non-existent. So a lot of people have that [preconception]. I guess I should call it a misconception.
So yeah, it was really hard before VALORANT, things were really slow *chuckles* it was hard looking for a team that you can actually call a team, and it was really hard for yourself specifically to call yourself a professional, by the way [of] your earnings of course, it was impossible to earn a living in the FPS scene before VALORANT.”
It was easy for the region’s FPS fans to feel rejected by the Western audience, especially when it felt like there wasn’t that same support for the region when it came to FPS games as they’d see with fellow MOBA titles, or other esports from different genres. But VALORANT was different, it paid attention to SEA, gave it equal opportunities, and most importantly, it was free.
Being free-to-play was one of the key entries in what made it absolutely boom in Southeast Asia. Every single FPS mentioned a while ago that became popular in SEA is free-to-play, and for once in a rare while, a game from the West made by a triple-A developer. A game that is a competitive first-person tactical shooter and is free-to-play.
With the hardships the everyday gamer from SEA might face, a lot of times paying for a game they want to play simply isn’t viable, and this was especially true when a lot of the gaming culture in the region was based around Gaming Cafés. These trials in day-to-day life for the average gamer in SEA also contributed to the rise of Mobile gaming and esports in the region, a new frontier that was set to take center stage, a stage that the Southeast-Asian FPS scene was waiting in the wings of and hoping to get its chance in the global spotlight too.
Yet, being free-to-play wouldn’t matter nearly as much if not for the format that was adopted early on in VALORANT’s competitive lifespan. Before the current partnered-team system with the Pacific League housing some of the best teams in the Pacific as a whole, SEA had its own Challenger League, and within that circuit, each region in Southeast Asia such as Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and MY/SG just to name a few, all had their own isolated Challengers Leagues as well. This created the perfect breeding ground for talent in SEA to thrive, as DubsteP shares his thoughts similarly on the matter of what VALORANT did so differently from its predecessors:
“I think first and foremost of the way VALORANT treats every region equally, I guess. The way they put qualifiers for every single country, including the Southeast Asian countries, and then putting SEA as a whole for qualifiers as well, I think that’s the biggest thing. Cos back in CS, there was no SEA qualifier, you had to go through China, it was called the ‘Asia Qualifier’ I think? Right now, the biggest change was from Valorant doing a SEA qualifier, and then obviously, a Southeast Asian team will fly globally and be able to showcase their skills, and the way they play. I think from the start, like from the very first Champions up to now, a lot of the SEA teams were surprised, especially a team like Paper Rex, they really are so [consistent] in showing what the region can do.”
My personal experience covering and commentating some of the Pacific’s best players since their days in the SEA Challengers, and some even before VALORANT, has cast a pretty clear image to me that what we’re witnessing right now with SEA doing much better than where we were in the past, is a direct byproduct of the VCT circuit. The Challengers League was a success.
(Photo courtesy of VALORANT Esports)
And with that success comes change. More organizations than ever investing in the FPS scene in SEA, which meant an increase in opportunities, more opportunities drew in more aspiring professional players, and more players drew in hope. That’s all it really was. With every boot camp being built, came further dreams for both players and organizations to make it big, to make something happen. Many of the organizations that invested in building Challenger League teams early on in SEA weren’t even aware of the future plans of a franchised-partnered team league; they were there because for once, there was a real shot to get to the top.
As for DubsteP’s thoughts on how things have changed since the times of old, have a listen here:
“It’s unbelievable.. I would call it a miracle”
“I think the biggest thing I noticed is that a lot of the sponsorships are more aggressive because the audience that VALORANT has been reaching is amazing and we can obviously see that from how many people are watching VALORANT tournaments. It’s a huge difference, it’s like day and night. It’s unbelievable if I had to describe it, cause I’ve never seen this coming. It’s somehow uh… If I can be exaggerated I would call it a miracle”
In DubsteP’s words, a miracle. I don’t think many people from SEA would disagree with that, especially with how far things have come. He also mentions sponsorships being one of the most substantial developments of this new era, and in truth, having sponsorships, especially from non-endemic brands, be involved in the esports scene is one of the biggest ways we see sustainability in the industry. For both the organizations and community, that being the pros and content creators, sponsorships allow many entities to stay afloat and be sustainable, and this is something that was missing especially in the FPS scene in SEA for a long while.
(Photo courtesy of VALORANT Esports)
(Photo courtesy of Esports Charts)
I remember doing a show early on in my esports career about Counter-Strike and FPS, a weekly broadcast show, shot in-studio for one of the largest gaming brands in the country. Right before our weekly hour-long segment would be a show about Dota 2 and other MOBA titles; in which you’d see non-endemic sponsors such as globally known cosmetic brands proudly display their products at the forefront of the MOBA segment, complete with product placement spiels and the works.
But when it came time to the FPS show, these products had to be removed from display due to the nature of the FPS genre not being particularly ‘family friendly’ or ‘television appropriate’. This may not have been necessarily true in the West, but the marketing culture in SEA wasn’t too keen on having their brands associated with anything involving realistic-looking video game violence.
And that’s what VALORANT changed; not only did the art style and presentation perfectly capture the imagination and intrigue of the global audience, but it solidified itself as something that brands will want to associate themselves with. For FPS fans in SEA, after seeing their scene be an afterthought on the global scale for so long; the development and rise of VALORANT coupled with the structure and focus Riot Games has put towards the region has made us all feel like it’s truly, in DubsteP’s words, a miracle, one that was a long time coming.
Looking forward to the future, SEA fans can only be proud of how much it as a region has developed and hopefully raise a global trophy as World Champions above the rest. We’ve seen teams like FULL SENSE and BOOM Esports from Thailand and Indonesia, respectively, qualify for VALORANT Champions. We witnessed the former XERXIA and Team Secret squads make noise on the biggest global stages, and of course, Paper Rex especially came very, very close to raising the trophy, and with it, the collective flag of SEA.
(Photos courtesy of Paper Rex)
If what used to look like a pipe dream is now a reality, then maybe a miraculous run from one of Southeast Asia’s finest isn’t that far-fetched. There’s still a long way to go, but even having that hope be possible in the first place? That’s the gift VALORANT has given to millions of fans in SEA. It’s why no matter which SEA team makes it to an international LAN, you’ll see the entire region supporting them, even from their inter-region rivals. Competitors in the server, but champions of a much larger goal: to bring the Southeast Asian brand of VALORANT and FPS to the rest of the world.
For more insights on the Asian VALORANT scene and upcoming content like this, be sure to like and follow VALO2ASIA on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.
Cover photo courtesy of VCT Pacific
