On June 22, SMART Communications and premier esports event management and production team Dark League Studios announced their collaboration to help level up the Philippines’ Esports Community.
At the media event for the SMART and Dark League Studios partnership, Alfredo S. Panlilio, president and chief executive officer of Smart, highlighted their goal of changing Esports.
“We are changing the game for Esports. As I have said, our aspiration is to bring this to the next level, maybe competition abroad.
“This is very significant for Smart. I think it is important for us to partner with Dark League.”
Melvin C. Nubla, the first vice-president and head of Smart Go-to-Market and Subscriber Management, affirmed how their partnership paved the way to better communicate with game developers.
“With the help of Dark League Studios, we will also be able to talk to several gaming developers who would want to be part of Smart GIGA Arena, because this is a single platform already.”
Nubla asserted SMART and Dark League Studio’s commitment to providing quality ‘gaming experience’ to Pinoy gamers.
“Our partnership with Dark League Studio is in line with our commitment to provide the best gaming experience to Filipinos. We at Smart have always believed in the ability of Filipinos to dominate sports of all kinds — including Esports through our collaboration with Dark League Studio. We hope to empower more aspiring Esports athletes to level up their gameplay and compete in a much bigger arena.”
Alfrancis P. Chua, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Dark League Studios, echoed SMART’s vision of enhancing the gaming experience for Pinoy gamers.
“We share Smart’s vision for Philippine Esports, and we are excited to leverage our expertise and experience in engaging the gaming community and inspiring Filipino gamers.”
Their collaboration aims to use the Smart GIGA Arena platform, the country’s first all-in-one Esports platform with the power to provide tournament gaming experience to amateur players of popular mobile games such as Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB), Call of Duty Mobile (CODM), Player’s Unknown Battleground (PUBG), and League of Legends Wild Rift (LOL).
As of the first quarter of 2023, SMART reported that they have 97% coverage for their 3G, 4G/LTE, and 5G network services for the country.