Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Nexus Baicon Cebu highlights importance of hyper-localization of eSports tourism in PH

CEBU CITY – The recently concluded Nexus Baicon Cebu highlighted the importance of hyper-localization in campaigns and shared insights on the impact of eSports tourism, gaming and digital content creation as a thriving creative industry in the Philippines.

Nexus Baicon 2024 was presented by Tier One Entertainment and organized by Republiq Group of Companies, gathered the top eSports gamers and digital content creators in the country for the first-ever Nexus Fan Fair outside of Metro Manila and was held on April 12-13at Sky Hall, SM-Seaside.

“Our goal has always been to bridge the gap between fans and their idols. Through the Nexus Baicon Fan Fair, we're giving our fans a platform to converge and celebrate their love for gaming with content creators and esports icons. We're fostering a community where gaming passion leads to impactful engagements and lasting memories," Tryke Gutierrez, CEO of Tier One Entertainment said.

According to Tier One VP, Brian Dacanay, the gaming and content creation industry in the country is thriving with a large gamer population and potential for content creators to earn from advertising, skins, streaming and branded content.

eSports and content creation in the Philippines are not limited to Manila, with creators in Cebu and other regions as well, the country is number one in Southeast Asia for gaming and eSports consumption, with less language barrier and high adoption, Dacanay pointed out.

“eSports and gaming events bring in tourism and boost local economy, young gamers have a shorter lifespan to become eSports athletes. Tier One Entertainment currently is Asia's leading eSports and gaming, new media company and we look after content creators on a talent management side,” Dacanay bared.

Bryan Yap, CEO of Republiq Group of Companies on the other hand revealed that RGC is the largest digital agency now in the country.  “We do a lot of different things by social media, we do softwares, we manage content creators as well as do market events.”

Yap said that RGC is really an end-to-end agency and it is focusing right now on the hyper- localization of campaigns and anything coming from them speaks about selling a dialogue at least a little bit because there’s not just a language barrier but basically a cultural barrier in terms of understanding the eSports, gaming and the digital creative industry.

“Having this partnership with Tier One Entertainment is really a perfect marriage because we combine both cultures in other countries’ eSports and being in business, including the potential for the Philippines to make it bigger than what it is now,” Yap added.


Both Dacanay and Yap agreed that the country’s eSports and gaming ecosystem is currently very healthy compared to other markets with mobile legends paving the way for everyone and gamers too to earn money, for example, investing in the gaming franchise, one is able to earn from the business models or from skins and so on in game currency.

Dacanay noted that there are about 47 million gamers in the Philippines. It means there is a lot of opportunity when it comes to digital content creation.  It is a big business, there’s YouTube, TikTok, live streaming on Facebook and more.

“Obviously within those content, there's a lot of advertising and then that could be individual advertising or group or among the gamers, it'd be branded content. They also earn from the platforms and social media advertising, that’s how streamers, gamers and local content creators earn from there,” Dacanay said.

Dacanay said that the Philippines is not really that far in digital and content creation. Filipinos love the great content and are a huge consumer, it is their nature and culture.  The Philippines used to be the text capital of the world, it’s also second in Facebook users.

“The Philippines, I believe, is number one right now in eSports and gaming in South East Asia and that’s also because of adoption and a lot less language barrier. We are also importing content from the West, a lot of consumption here.  So, in terms of gaming and eSports consumption, which country in South East Asia that’s very strong in content creation or eSports?” Dacanay asked.

According to Yap, that is the reason both Tier One and RGC started bringing eSports, gaming and digital content creation to the regions, pioneering in Cebu being a trading and talent hub for the eSports/creative industry. Imagine the huge tourism impact of bringing eSports events to the different regions in the country.

“This is really one of the purposes to hold the Nexus Baicon in Cebu, it is actually just step one to be able to do more events like this and bring in international events of gamers and eSports athletes to the country in the future, with the support from stakeholders, the media and the community as well,” Yap added.

According to Yap and Dacanay, that’s really their biggest dream and they’re actually working on it. The Cebu leg of the much-anticipated community-focused gaming event was just the beginning. The organizers are already setting their sights on expanding to Bacolod and Davao for broader reach and impact as it celebrates gaming, community, and shared passions. (Photos: MBCNewman)



 

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