The Youth Esports Program (YEP), a collaboration between Mineski Philippines and the Philippine Collegiate Champions League, has partnered with Riot Games Southeast Asia.
The partnership will allow YEP to give students access to Riot Games employees through workshops, activities, and student initiatives. To start, these initiatives will include Legends of Runeterra tournaments and VALORANT content contests.
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Chris Tran, Head of Esports for Riot Games Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, spoke on the agreement in a release: “The Philippines has always been one of our most important markets and we have been consistently blown away by the passion and talent discovered within the community here. We are excited to partner with the Youth Esports Program and to support their efforts in nurturing the next generation of esports and game industry professionals.”
As part of this partnership, VALORANT will become an official tournament game in the Youth Esports Program’s upcoming national campus-based esports league.
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Marlon “Lon” Marcelo, Director of YEP, also commented: “We’re very happy and excited to have Riot Games be part of the program. We are aligned on our objective of raising the level of esports to the level of other varsity sports in schools. Together, we hope to create the infrastructure needed for students to responsibly pursue their passions in the exciting industry of esports and gaming. The Philippines’ best professional teams of the future will come from the current youth.”
Esports Insider says: League of Legends has always had a big presence in Southeast Asia. The League Masters Series was a highly regarded division for four years before becoming the Pacific Championship Series in 2019. With this initiative, Riot Games is supporting the company’s other titles in the region. Curating a strong grassroots presence is important for longevity as an esport and the developer is focusing on building out regional grassroots options for all titles.