It’s been revealed that the annual Selangor Cyber Games will be taking place on the 26th-27th of October this year at the i-City shopping mall in Shah Alam and will feature a total prize pool of RM215,000 divided across 4 games. The 4 games – along with their individual prize pools, are as follows: Dota 2 – RM30,000 FIFA 20 – RM55,000 Tekken 7 – RM30,000 PUBG Mobile – RM100,000 The breakdown for the prize pool distribution of each game can be seen in the table below:
Looking at the distribution, we see that the prize pool payouts for the single player games will go all the way to 32nd place, and although Dota 2 maintains a more traditional structure with prize money only going to the top 8 teams, the fact that the top 16 teams in PUBG Mobile will all go home with some portion of the prize money is a positive sight. Each of the individual prize pools are certainly hefty and the dedicated playerbases of each game should be generally satisfied with the amount on offer as well as the generous payout structure for competitors who don’t manage to snag podium finishes. Especially for PUBG Mobile which sports a prize pool that almost amounts to as much as all of the other games combined. Having said that, we can’t help but notice some interesting differences between this year’s SCG and SCG 2018. First of all, the total prize pool of the event has decreased by quite a bit, down to RM215,000 compared to the RM250,000 that was up for grabs last year. This is somewhat surprising considering the huge amount of buzz that has been surrounding the government’s efforts to build and promote the Malaysian esports industry. Given that there was a sizeable sum devoted towards Malaysian esports in the latest budget, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect a larger amount of prize money for a major government sanctioned esports tournament such as the Selangor Cyber Games. With the decrease in prize pool for this event, we can’t help but wonder if it could be an indication of the government having plans for another big national esports event. We don’t have any news about that so far, so we’ll just leave the speculation at that for now. Secondly, the number of games featured at the Selangor Cyber Games has been reduced from 6 games to just 4. Dota 2, FIFA and Tekken 7 are returning from 2018’s line-up, but PUBG PC, Pro Evolution Soccer and Mobile Legends have been cut to make way for PUBG: Mobile.
Given the reduced prize pool for this year’s event, it’s understandable that the organisers would opt to reduce the number of games to make the event easier to handle while keeping the individual prize pools attractive for the players of each game. Interestingly enough. The prize pool for Dota 2 this year is less than half of what it was in 2018 (from RM70,000 down to RM30,000), while PUBG Mobile’s prize pool of RM100,000 is exactly five times the amount that it’s PC counterpart received back in 2018.
If anything, this huge swing in prize pool amounts for each game can be taken as an indicator that mobile games are more popular than ever amongst Malaysian esports players. Although that notion does make it somewhat unusual that Mobile Legends – the most popular mobile MOBA amongst Malaysians, would be ommitted from the event. Either way, the 2019 edition of the Selangor Cyber Games is sure to be one of the most important events of the years for competitors and esports fans alike and we can’t wait to see who will emerge as the champions for each game this year!Competitors can register for the tournaments now at the official Selangor Cyber Games website. What do you think of the changes in prize pool and game line-up for this year? Let us know in the comments! Source: Selangor Cyber Games Featured Image Credit: MET Malaysia Image Credits: MET Malaysia
