Acer Africa is sponsoring local eSports team ATK Rocket League in their bid to represent South Africa at the first Commonwealth eSports Championships in Birmingham, England.
On 6 and 7 August, the event will see over 100 athletes representing diverse Commonwealth nations, and territories will go head-to-head in three eSports titles – DOTA 2, eFootball series, and Rocket League.
Staged concurrently with the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, the eSports Championships is said to represent a significant moment in the evolution of eSports.
Acer says its investment in eSports reinforces its commitment to promoting it as a truly inclusive sport that is available to all players, regardless of age, gender, physical attributes or background.
The company will supply each team member with Acer Nitro monitors and Predator Helios 300 notebooks during their visit to Birmingham, as well as cover the gamers’ flights, accommodation and living expenses.
“When eSports organisation ATK approached us to help the ATK Rocket League team in their mission to compete on a global stage at the Commonwealth eSports Championships, we simply had to get involved,”says Glenn du Toit, country manager at Acer Africa.
“Because we’re dedicated to developing cutting-edge gaming hardware, getting these talented gamers to Birmingham seemed like a natural extension of our existing vision to take eSports to the next level in South Africa.”
Earlier this year, Acer partnered with the Curro School Group to help it grow eSports into a comprehensive, fully co-ordinated extra-curricular activity, as part of the school’s curriculum.
Supported by the Commonwealth Games Federation, the first Commonwealth eSports Championships is a highly-anticipated international event on the gaming community’s calendar. The championships will bring together national Rocket League, e-football and DOTA 2 teams from across the Commonwealth countries.
The local ATK Rocket League team qualified for the Commonwealth eSports Championships with a convincing win on 18 June, as part of the African regional qualifier round for Rocket League, a popular arcade-style game where players use various vehicles to play football.
Team members Umer Majiet (aka Arceon), Schalk Geldenhuys (aka SchalkG) and Umar Rasool (aka Werty) will go head-to-head with the world’s best eSports players on 6 August in Birmingham.
“We’ve long understood that eSports develops teamwork, communication and strategic thinking, together with combating loneliness. It also creates opportunities for players to participate in a team environment in a similar way to traditional sport. Games like Minecraft are teaching our kids how to code, use their entrepreneurial skills and even design buildings and cities ─ while they play,” says Du Toit.
Acer also partnered with Intel to be the headline sponsors of the largest global eSports event for women − Girl Gamer − hosted in Cape Town in June.
Fans can support SA’s ATK Rocket League team by watching them compete live in Birmingham on YouTube tomorrow.
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