One of the foremost names in top-level esports hardware, Razer is investing some of its wealth back into esports. The company recently announced a $10 million cash injection for the Singapore esports and gaming community.
Razer’s Chief Executive Officer, Min-Liang, says the funds will be available to support the development of Singapore esports teams. They will also be accessible for gaming and esports companies based in Singapore, or that have been founded by Singapore citizens.
Team Singapore to benefit
Team Singapore will receive a significant part of the investment. Razer will support this national representative team at the South East Asian Games (SEA) later this year. To be clear, Razer is an official sponsor.
This is big news for esports. For the first time, esports will be a medalled event in the South East Asian Games. The move reflects esports’ high status in East Asia.
The news comes barely a month after it was announced that four leading businesses will pool their resources from within the advertising, media and gaming industries to help build a business to accelerate the huge rise in popularity of esports within Southeast Asia.
Games such as League of Legends (which has its exciting LoL World Championship on the horizon), Dota 2, and StarCraft 2 are hugely popular in the region. But across all different types of esports, the Asian market is showing signs of extensive growth.
Singapore’s esports scene
Dota 2 is the most popular esport in Singapore at the moment, with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Overwatch and Hearthstone enjoying extensive popularity too.
ICEICEICE is the most successful Singaporean Esports player. The current Dota 2 professional is 29 years of age and plays for Fnatic. He has amassed over $1.5 million in earnings, far outstripping the earnings of the next most successful player, NutZ. He also plays Dota 2 for the Reality Rift team but has earned just over $225,000.
In terms of teams, Scythe Gaming have earned the most of all Singaporean-based teams with just over $150,000 banked. Then, Team Faceless and B.O.O.T-dreamScape come next on the chart. SEA-bound Team Singapore is eighth on this list with earnings of just over $27,000, perhaps illustrating why this significant investment from Razer will be so welcome as they prepare for the challenge of medalling at the SEA games.
Min-Liang’s statement
Finally, let’s hear from the man behind this stimulus.
“I’m incredibly grateful for all the support we’ve had from the Singapore government and Singaporeans alike all these years,” Min-Liang says.
“While I founded Razer in the US, I am still a Singaporean citizen and we have an office in Singapore with about 500 staff (and currently [we are] building a new SEA HQ in Singapore to double our headcount over the next few years to over 1,000!).”
Featured image courtesy of Razer
