A new industry takes shape: How Romania could become a regional hub for esports
- Globally, esports has become a multi-billion dollar industry, with tournaments offering substantial prize money and attracting millions of viewers.
- Romania began to align itself with this trend, developing the necessary infrastructure and organizing events and competitions of the caliber of those outside.
For example, one of the most recent esports competitions held in Romania was the Romanian Esports League (REL) in December, which brought the best Counter-Strike teams from the country face to face, informs Ziarul Financiar.
The online event took place for almost two months, during which the qualifications were open to all Counter-Strike players from Romania, professional or amateur, with over 150,000 followers on livestream during the event. The physical event, where the best teams met in the semi-finals and the grand final, had a prize pool of 30,000 euros.
Romania has the potential to become a regional hub in the field of esports, thanks to local talent and increased interest in gaming.
The results of the Romanians on the international level have created a fertile ground for the return of the domestic competition. For example, in CS2, Ivan ‘iM’ Mihai won the Major tournament in Copenhagen at the beginning of the year, Ana ‘ANa’ Dumbravă is a multiple women’s champion and the best player in the world, and the Romanian team (represented by Nexus Gaming players) won the World Championship organized by IESF – International Esports Federation.
Not only Counter-Strike was the target of esports events and interest in Romania. Games such as League of Legends, Dota 2, Valorant, Call of Duty, etc., enjoy a very high popularity and a playerbase of hundreds of thousands of players.
Source: www.mediafax.ro
