Organised by Bureau of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Economic Affairs, and implemented by Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), the grand finale of the fourth Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup (TEGC) concluded at Infinity Mall in Mumbai amidst a fair few attendees on Saturday, 28 October.
Like previous years, this edition featured some of the known gaming brands and gear during the finale including Acer, Adata, Asus, AverMedia, BenQ, CoolerMaster, CyberPower, D-link, FSP, Gigabyte, InWin, MSI, Optoma, Thermaltake and Transcend.
The set-up was however pretty much the same as last year, the third (previous) edition of the tournament’s finale was held at the same venue with pretty much the same brands showcasing their products. For example, MSI had their counter placed at the exact same place with the same VR demo that they had showcased last year. Not much were the queues at the other booths either.
Up for grabs was an amount of Rs. 10 lakh in total, with the winning team Team Buriza and Team TMG taking home Rs. 2 lakh each, Team RoG Titans and Shooting Monkeys winning second place with Rs. 1 lakh each, and team GIFF Sponsors and Team SRA and team GO Figure and Team Elements winning the third and fourth place respectively with Rs. 50,000 each. Finishing fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth place are teams Youth Buriza, Ferocious, Aggressive 5 and White Shadows respectively for Dota 2, and Sempex, V Ban, Makeway and God Particles for CS:GO, taking home Rs. 25,000 each.
Even before the eliminations for the cup started, TEGC claims to have reached out to people across India with the TEGamingRig. This gaming vehicle cruised to 50 locations in India and covered nearly the entire western and northern regions before returning to Mumbai. The TEGamingRig apparently journeyed for a 100 days in an attempt to promote and showcase a range of gaming products – from gaming gear, peripherals, software to other components.
However, at the finale the situation with the “TEGamingRig” was pretty perplexing. It was positioned right next to the venue, through the glass doors. While the Rig, I am sure, was functioning well, the glass doors leading to it were shut for most of the time. Going by that, even if someone attended the finals’ venue and wanted to try the systems and games on the rig, they would have had to go all the way in order to make it through and hence, the station was left pretty much unattended.
The elimination rounds for the pan India championship kicked off in Chennai on 1 September followed by a line-up of five more cities including Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Delhi.
Speaking at the event, deputy director of strategic marketing department, Mario Tasi said, “The popularity of TEGC is only growing each year and we are extremely proud that we are able to bring to India some of Taiwan’s best gaming experiences. TEGC gives passionate gamers the chance to experience some great gaming, technology and the chance to win big money and participate in other international gaming championships. We hope that we keep receiving this love from gamers across India.”
Some players however were not so happy with the structure of the tournament. The initial knock-out rounds of the group stages on the final day were best of one and not best of three, which left a not-so-happy impression on some of the players.
Maybe more activities, more games or some changes in the line up to break the monotony would be a task for the organisers next year.
A tournament which can be considered as one of the tier one championships in India will hopefully collect necessary feedback and make a better comeback next year, not just in the prospect of branding, but gaming as well.