Cyberport’s esports venue officially unveiled to tap into global esports craze

HONGKONG, CHINA - Media OutReach - 16 JULY 2019 - To jumponto the global esports bandwagon, Cyberport hosted the DigitalEntertainment Leadership Forum (DELF) today at the all-new esports venuelocated at Arcade@Cyberport, with an attendance of over 700 on the one-day mainforum.

With a vision to enrichparticipants understanding the development of esports and digitalentertainment, the DELF main forum gathered esports icons and influencers,industry elites and celebrity gamers to decode the global prospects of theindustry andassess regional dynamics and market trends. The event also featureda host of invitational competition starring celebrity and pro gamers.Developers, tech firms and gaming accessories makers have showcased theirlatest e-sports technologies and products and gave attendees a comprehensiveunderstanding of the development of esports and digital entertainment.

Carrying the theme "Powering up a Vibrant Esports Ecosystem", DELF gatheredmore than 40 international and local specialists, who took part in more than 30sessions to explore to explore how the esports value chain can be furtherextended, share experiences in developing esports in different regionalmarkets, and how the esports industry can be developed across the Greater BayArea (GBA) through industry collaborations. The objective is to foster e-sportsdevelopment in Hong Kong and across the region from different perspectives.DELF 2019 also marked the kick-off of "DE*Spark", a two-week digitalentertainment extravaganza to enhance the public and business community'sunderstanding of the esports and digital entertainment industry through aseries of forums, events and an experience day.

The opening ceremony of DELF 2019was officiated by Nicholas Yang, Secretary for Innovation and Technology of theHong Kong SAR Government and Victor Lam, Government Chief Information Officer, togetherwith Peter Yan, CEO of Cyberport.

In his opening remarks, Yan saidCyberport is now partnering with Hong Kong Esports Premier League to host whatwould be the first city-wide esports league, which serves as a trainingplatform for professional and amateur players alike. The final would be held inDecember at Cyberport. He also revealed that Cyberport had received more than50 applications for he esports venue and nearly half of them had been approved.

With all the bookings ahead ofits opening date, the esports venue would host a variety of events every weekover the coming nine months, Yan added that  he is confident that Cyberport will be able toturn Hong Kong into an esports and digital entertainment hub.

DELF was joined by more than 40international and regional esports heavyweights as keynote speakers--includingguests from the UK, Israel, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia and Mainland China.Among the speakers were Afif Bahardin, Penang State Executive Councillor fromMalaysia; Hans Jagnow, President of ESBD - German Esports Federation; SamartAssarasakorn, Executive Secretary to President of Thailand Esports Federation,and Ido Brosh, President of Israeli e-Sports Association shared their views on"Global Exchange: Blooming Esports in the Region"; Derek Cheung, Chairman ofHong Kong eSports Federation; Eric Yeung, President of Esports Association HongKong and Mario Ho, President of Macao E-sports Federation gave a heateddiscussion on " GBA Opportunities: Hong Kong's Esports, Ready to FlyHigh". Cheolhag Kim, Secretary General of Korea e-Sports Association; YuyaTanida, Representative Director, CEO of WellPlayed, Inc., and Shigenori Araki,Managing Corporate Officer of Capcom Co., Ltd. shared their views on the trendand development of e-sports in Japan and Korea.

The brand new esports venue wasbrought to life by a series of intense battles between the dream teams andcelebrity gamers.The celebrity tournament featured a "League of Legends" matchbetween Panda Cute, Hong Kong's first all-female e-sports team, and Koreanchampions Rox Caracal. A team from TVB's eSports Central programme alsochallenged the pro esports team Nova eSports on the FIFA field.

As well as the insightful speechesand panel discussions, visitors also got a chance to enjoy a first-hand esportsexperience through the three experience areas, which are themed as the GameZone, Tech Zone and Venturer Zone.

These thematic zones included ashowcase of the newest product developments and innovations in esports byCyberport start-ups and other Hong Kong companies. Leading esportsentrepreneurs and representatives from higher education institutions alsoshared insights into the future of esports, engaging with such topics asentrepreneurship, professional development and cyber wellness. DELF as a wholepresents an opportunity to bring the esports community together each yearto share ideas and experiences in ways that inspire new partnerships andinnovative solutions to drive Hong Kong's esports growth.

DE*Sparkto lead a new era of entertainment

In addition to the one-day main forum, Cyberport willcontinue to trigger the esports and digital entertainment fever throughout thesecond half of July. DELF main forum will be immediately followed by Asia'sfirst Blockchain Gamer Connects summit on 17-18 July in Cyperport. Thisinternational conference, which was well received in San Francisco, Helsinkiand London, provides opportunities for market players of mobile games and theblockchain industry to expand collaboration and business opportunities.

Following this comes a series of themed events to beheld in late July, including the competitive LoL Campus League 2019 Finals, Seniors'Esports & Experience Day, and the latest edition of the annual calendar highlight Hong Kong e-Sports & Music Festival -- collectivelyfacilitating the development of esports and digital entertainment in Hong Kong.

DELF mainforum videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebIVMfQu8RA&feature=youtu.be (Morning session)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLdGstXzEHA&feature=youtu.be (Afternoon session)

For moreinformation and the latest events, please visit: https://delf.cyberport.hk/