Thursday, November 7, 2019

Pakistani Video Game Player Among World's Top 10 Earners

Karachi-born Pakistani Syed Sumail Hasan, 19, is the world's youngest video gamer to surpass $1 million in earnings in esports. In fact, he has earned $3.6 million so far as an international Dota 2 player, ranking him the 10th biggest winner in the world, according to esportsearnings.com website which tracks players' earnings. Sumail started playing Dota 2 at the age of 7. He now lives in a Chicago suburb as a permanent resident of the United States.


Syed Sumail Hassan

Arsalan Ash Siddique, 23 years old player from Lahore, Pakistan, caused a stir in Fukuoka Japan when he defeated world's top players to win EVO championship in February, 2019, according to Asahi Shimbun. In his victory speech, Arslan acknowledged many unknown Pakistani players who are also quite strong but could not join the competition because they could not get the visa to travel to Japan.



It wasn't easy for Arsalan to reach Japan to participate in the contest. He had to jump through many hoops and travel through several transit countries each of which made it difficult for him. When he arrived at Haneda airport in Japan,  he only had Pakistani rupees and no exchange would accept them. Hungry and tired he tried his luck at the food court but no one would accept the Pakistani currency. His next flight was from Narita airport an hour away by public transport. To travel he needed to buy a ticket but did not possess any local currency, according to SBS Urdu.

Arsalan Ash Siddique (Center)

Arsalan was exhausted and ready to give up his dream when he finally got through to his Japanese sponsors who helped him out. Needless to say he got no help from Pakistani diplomats through his challenging journey.

In spite of visa denials and other travel challenges faced by Pakistani players, the country ranks 25th in the world for players' earnings in 2019, according to esportsearnings.com.  Ranked above Pakistan are  mainly rich industrialized nations from North America, Europe and East Asia. All South Asian nations rank below Pakistan. Players from India rank 63rd, Sri Lanka 98th, Afghanistan 108th, Bangladesh 115th and Nepal 123rd.

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8 comments:

Mo said...

Sumail is not Pakistani. He lives in America.

Riaz Haq said...

Mo: "Sumail is not Pakistani. He lives in America"

esportsearnings.com website shows Pakistani flag next to Sumail's name:

https://www.esportsearnings.com/games/231-dota-2

Riaz Haq said...

#Pakistan penetrates top #esports gaming echelon, giving hope to #Mideast players. #SouthKorean players had been considered the world’s strongest in international Tekken 7 competitions. #Pakistani players beat them in international contests
http://almon.co/3aa8 via @AlMonitor


In February, during Evo Japan 2019 in Fukuoka, a rising star from Pakistan surprised everyone by winning one of the biggest and hardest tournaments of the year. In August, he did it again and won the absolute biggest tournament of the year in Las Vegas by roundly beating the legendary Knee.

The Pakistani player, Arslan Siddique, who plays under the name “Arslan Ash,” is now sponsored by Team Vslash. In the past he had trouble getting visas to compete in countries like Japan and the United States, which explained his and other Pakistani players’ absence in overseas tournaments. Without his persistence, along with skill and practice, of course, it would have been impossible for him to become the best player in the world or to put his country on the esports map. According to Siddique, Pakistan has a huge Tekken community and he has been practicing with skillful players.

Awais Parvez (“Awais Honey”) is another player from Pakistan who has made a name for himself. In August he won the first major international Tekken tournament he had ever entered, solidifying Pakistan and its players as a force to be reckoned with.

Success stories like these indicate there are many great players yet to be discovered in other countries. The small number of esports organizations and the lack of international esports events in areas such as Pakistan and the Middle East are some of the reasons more players from there haven’t competed globally.

Amman, Jordan-based Fate Esports was established in early 2017 with a team of five Jordanian Dota 2 players. The company has expanded into global esports by adding teams/players and more games such as CSGO (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive) and Tekken 7. It currently operates in Jordan, Bulgaria, Pakistan and South Korea and is considered a beacon of hope in Middle East.

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Fate Esports founder Mohammad Majali said, “[Global Masters] was a pilot event, we planned it at the last second specifically to bring world-class players to Jordan and grow the country’s image as a pioneer in esports.”

He added, “Over 6,000 people tuned in to watch the event live across different streaming platforms and we’re expecting to see this number grow dramatically in the upcoming years.”



Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2019/11/pakistan-esports-jordan-mideast-tekken-fate.html#ixzz66LryoQwr

Riaz Haq said...

Arslan Ash from #Pakistan is the first player to win both Evo events in a single year, since the tournament began in 1996. "It’s unheard of! It’s never happened in the history of competitive Tekken", said Aris. #eSports #Tekken #Evo https://theoutline.com/post/8447/tekken-pakistan-lahore-fighting-game-community?zd=1&zi=nuy2ujiq

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In October, Atif Butt and Awais Honey flew together to the Tokyo Tekken Masters tournament, eventually facing off against each other in the finals; they took home 1st and 2nd place. In November, Rox N Roll Dubai culminated in an all-Pakistani final again, this time between Awais Honey and Heera, who faced top players like Japan’s legendary Nobi. Of the twenty players who qualified for the Tekken World Tour Grand Finals in Bangkok, three — Bilal, Awais Honey, and Arslan Ash — were Pakistani.

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Jae-Min "Knee" Bae, widely considered one of the all-time greatest players of the video game Tekken, glistened with sweat. It was the final round of the the Evolution Champion Series (Evo) finals in Las Vegas in August — the second of the two most prestigious fighting game tournaments of the year. He was up against a relative unknown, Arslan “Ash” Siddique, who had become the first Pakistani player to compete at an Evo tournament that February, in Fukuoka, Japan.

“Look at Knee,” said live commentator Aris. “Have you ever thought he would look like this, perplexed as to how to beat his opponent?”

Knee swapped characters a few times in the five games they played, but nothing seemed to be working. Arslan continually sidestepped or jumped over Knee’s strikes, which for some characters in Tekken can come out in 11 milliseconds — about the length of a blink. When Knee tried surprise attacks, Arslan always seemed to predict them. The match broke viewing records for competitive Tekken, with gamers all over the world witnessing Arslan’s eventual triumph.

“It’s unheard of! It’s never happened in the history of competitive Tekken, someone to come out of nowhere — Pakistan — and dominate the entire Korean, Japanese, European, and North American scene,” said Aris.

In October, Atif Butt and Awais Honey flew together to the Tokyo Tekken Masters tournament, eventually facing off against each other in the finals; they took home 1st and 2nd place. In November, Rox N Roll Dubai culminated in an all-Pakistani final again, this time between Awais Honey and Heera, who faced top players like Japan’s legendary Nobi. Of the twenty players who qualified for the Tekken World Tour Grand Finals in Bangkok, three — Bilal, Awais Honey, and Arslan Ash — were Pakistani.

Japanese and Korean players were looking to settle the score. The live broadcast of the Grand Finals cut to prerecorded interviews of the players before each match in the round robin. Nobi’s interview provoked cheers and jeers from the audience in Bangkok. “There are many strong Tekken players in the world, and the focus is on players from Pakistan at the moment,” he said. “But Tekken’s origins are from Japan, so I’m really hoping the Japanese players, myself included, are able to make our way into the top eight.”

Although Arslan Ash, Awais Honey, and Bilal were eliminated before the final round, the level of representation from an unknown region was unprecedented. Chatter on TWT's official Twitch stream dubbed the storyline the “secret Pakistan masters” arc — or “Flukestan,” depending on who you ask. Racist turban emoji spam in the Twitch chat aside, since February, Pakistanis have managed to make it out to 11 international tournaments, and they’ve snagged first place at all but three.

Riaz Haq said...

#Pakistan's #Tekken pros look to continue to prove their worth in 2020. "Eik Naya Baazigar Pesh Aya!" "Here Comes A New Challenger!" Syed Sumail Hassan has earned over $3 million in prize money in his career, making him the 10th-highest #eSports Earnings. https://www.espn.com/esports/story/_/id/28429807

"Eik Naya Baazigar Pesh Aya!"

That's a loose Urdu translation of "Here Comes A New Challenger!" Urdu is the national language of Pakistan, which until 2019 wasn't represented much in the world of esports. Its most high-profile competitor was Syed "SumaiL" Hassan, a renowned Dota 2 player who, shortly after moving to the United States, became the youngest-ever player to win The International, earning the 2015 title with Evil Genius at the age of 16. Hassan has earned over $3 million in prize money in his career, making him the 10th-highest esports earner worldwide, according to Esports Earnings.

But the most popular competitive titles in Pakistan are fighting games. With accessible and affordable nationwide internet service still playing catchup, gamers in Pakistan often come together in person to practice and compete, region by region -- a familiar setting to the roots of the FGC. In cities such as Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad, Tekken took center stage. Little by little, like iron sharpening iron, players in Pakistan were improving.

Whispers about their developing skills traveled the globe.

"​Certain people were told by people from Pakistan that their players were amazing, but people [have made] that claim a lot with very little credence in the past, so it was dismissed," said James Chen, a longtime FGC commentator and historian. "But this time it turned out to be true."

If 2018 caused the FGC to slightly crank its head backward for a glance, 2019 made it stop dead in its tracks and completely turn around.

"There have been instances of countries showing up and showing up strong, but nothing to the degree that Pakistan [has done]," Chen said. "Arslan Ash winning Evo Japan and Evo back to back against the toughest competition is pretty unprecedented in any competitive genre, in my opinion, not just fighting games."

The man Chen mentioned, Arslan "Arslan Ash" Siddique, led the charge.

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Other competitors from Pakistan soon followed behind Arslan: Awais "Awais Honey" Iftikhar defeated Knee at FV Cup in Malaysia after resetting the bracket in the grand final. Awais and Atif Butt participated in an all-Pakistan grand final at Tokyo Tekken Masters 2019, with Atif taking home first prize. Both Awais and Atif defeated 2019 Tekken World Tour Final winner Yuta "Chikurin" Take at the tournament. Awais won another all-Pakistan Final at RoxNRoll Dubai 2019, defeating Heera Malik, who eliminated Evo 2018 winner ​Yoon "LowHigh" Sun-woong earlier in the tournament.

Riaz Haq said...

#US #military likes violent #videogames. Over the past two decades, virtual games have had a dramatic effect on the military’s #education and #training programs, with the US Department of Defense spending US$4 billion annually. #Warfare https://theconversation.com/its-no-wonder-the-military-likes-violent-video-games-they-can-help-train-civilians-to-become-warriors-121886?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=footertwitterbutton via @ConversationUK

For some time now, the military has been using these games to train combat soldiers. Already in 1997, a US Marine General recognised that virtual games operate both on the body and mind and improve a soldier’s preparedness for combat. Consequently, he sent out a directive allowing the use of computer-based war games when training infantry troops for warfare.

Over the past two decades, virtual games have had a dramatic effect on the military’s education and training programs, with the US Department of Defense spending US$4 billion annually to develop and integrate computerised war games into the curriculum of every war college in the US. These games prepare cadets for battle by simulating the use of automated weapons.

In fact, a recent recruitment drive by the British Army targeted gamers, with one of their posters reading: “Are you a binge gamer? The Army needs you and your drive.”

The goal of the military is to vanquish its enemies using violence. But what happens when the same training platforms migrate into our homes? And how do they affect the citizens who use them daily?

Home schooling
First-person shooter games have become permanent fixtures in the private sphere, allowing millions of citizens across the globe to participate in virtual wars from the comfort of their living rooms. Indeed, around 2.2 billion gamers regularly sit at home, many playing action-packed war games, which fuse virtual boot camps with special operations aimed at eliminating enemies.

Read more: Fortnite World Cup and the rise of the esports industry

A 2015 report suggests that in the US alone, 80% of households have a gaming device and over 155m citizens play games, many of which are extremely violent. And unlike the passive consumption of other forms of violent entertainment, such as television or movies, participants in these games assume an active role. The games invite citizens, many of whom are children, to step through the screen and become virtual protagonists in the exercise of violence.

In fact, there is a striking resemblance between the games on our children’s computers and the real operation of automated weapon systems using networked information and technologies to annihilate targets, which are often located thousands of miles away, in places like Pakistan, Yemen and Iraq.

Describing the use of computer simulations in the military, Michael Macedonia from the US Army Simulation Training and Instrumentation Command explained in an article that it “proved to be a smooth transition for younger generations of soldiers, who, after all, were spoon fed on Nintendo and computer games”.

Riaz Haq said...

How Islam helped Pakistan become an esports hub
DEVIN NEALY 5:47 AM SAT DEC 31, 2022

https://boingboing.net/2022/12/31/how-islam-helped-pakistan-become-an-esports-hub.html


Fighting games helped establish the world of esports. Before League of Legends and Starcraft even had a tournament presence, Street Fighter 3: Third Strike was taking the internet by storm with EVO moment 37. However, in the realm of competitive fighting games, there are few games as difficult as Tekken. Since Tekken is played in three dimensions, as opposed to the traditional two dimensions, there are numerous eventualities to account for during play. In addition to the three-dimensional chaos, almost every character in the game has a hundred moves that both you and your opponent must be aware of.

For decades, the country of South Korea has been the undisputed king of Tekken. With a host of notable players throughout the game's competitive history coming from South Korea, the country has long been established as the most dominant Tekken scene on Earth.

In the last few years, Pakistan has not only been making waves in the Tekken scene, but it's also working to usurp South Korea from its throne. In the video linked above, you can learn how the Islamic ritual of Hajj helped bring Tekken to Pakistan.

Riaz Haq said...

There have been 357 Pakistani esports players that have been awarded a total of $5,329,360.58 USD in prize money across 315 tournaments. The highest awarding game was Dota 2 with $4,522,888.59 USD won, making up 84.87% of all earnings by Pakistani players. Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan is the highest earning Pakistani player with $3,880,289.31 USD in prize money won overall, all of which was won from playing in Dota 2 tournaments.

https://www.esportsearnings.com/countries/pk#:~:text=There%20have%20been%20357%20Pakistani,all%20earnings%20by%20Pakistani%20players.