Dubai-based management company EMG has announced a Middle East-focused partnership with esports tournament organiser StarLadder.
As a result, the organiser will become the exclusive manager of the company’s annual esports and gaming festival from 2023 until 2025. The festival features a number of tournaments where the best regional teams compete in Dubai.
This deal isn’t the first time the two parties have collaborated. EMG’s debut esports and pop-culture festival took place earlier in the year at the Dubai World Trade Center, with Starladder managing the event’s broadcast production and esports operations. For the Global Esports Tour Dubai 2022, which was part of the festival, both parties organised and operated a $250,000 (~£216,556) CS:GO tournament.
With StarLadder operating the event, EMG aims to expand its offerings with a wider range of tournament formats and game selections.
Founded in 2001, StarLadder is largely known for its StarSeries esports tournaments across CS:GO, Dota 2, PUBG and HearthStone. Over the past two decades, StarLadder has hosted a number of events such as the Berlin CS:GO Major, Chongqing Dota 2 Major and the PUBG Continental Series.
Darrach Campbell, Management Director at EMG, spoke on the partnership: “The esports community has seen large-scale growth on a global level, and we aim to replicate that growth in the Middle East with the support of the Emirates Esports Federation.
“With the games culture surpassing new boundaries every day in this region, we feel that our partnership with StarLadder is the key element towards developing an all-inclusive esports community in the UAE. We look forward to having StarLadder on board and creating larger and more frequent tournaments that will bring fans a new level of esports experiences.”
