Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams.
Defense of the Ancients (DotA) is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) mod for the video game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (2002) and its expansion, The Frozen Throne (2003). The objective of the game is for each team to destroy their opponents' Ancient, a heavily guarded structure at the opposing corner of the map. Players use powerful units known as heroes, and are assisted by allied teammates and AI-controlled fighters. As in role-playing games, players level up their heroes and use gold to buy equipment during the game.
The 2013 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, officially 4th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games and also known as Incheon 2013, was a pan-continental event held in Incheon, South Korea from 29 June to 6 July 2013 that served as a dress-rehearsal for the upcoming 2014 Asian Games, which was also held in the same city. It was the first event to be held under the "Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games" name following the merger of two OCA events – Asian Indoor Games and Asian Martial Arts Games, inherited the edition numeral of the former. Doha, Qatar was initially scheduled to host the 4th Asian Indoor Games in 2011, but withdrawn in June 2008 due to "unforeseen circumstances", with the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) chose Incheon instead as a replacement and postponed the games to 2013.
The Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games is a pancontinental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. It is organised by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and consists of Indoor and martial arts events with TV broadcasting potential, some of which were not contested at the Asian Games and Asian Winter Games Programs and are not Olympic sports.
Dota 2 is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve. The game is a sequel to Defense of the Ancients (DotA), a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Dota 2 is played in matches between two teams of five players, with each team occupying and defending their own separate base on the map. Each of the ten players independently controls a character known as a hero that has unique abilities and differing styles of play. During a match, players collect experience points (XP) and items for their heroes to defeat the opposing team's heroes in player versus player (PvP) combat. A team wins by being the first to destroy the other team's Ancient, a large durable structure located in the center of each base.
Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) is a subgenre of strategy video games where two teams of players compete on a predefined battlefield, each controlling a single character with distinctive abilities. These abilities become more powerful as the match progresses, allowing characters to contribute more effectively to the team's overall strategy. The typical objective is for each team to destroy the opponents' main structure, located at the opposite corner of the battlefield, while protecting their own. In some MOBA games, the objective can be defeating every player on the enemy team. Players are assisted by computer-controlled units that periodically spawn in groups and march forward along set paths toward their enemy's base, which is heavily guarded by defensive structures. This type of multiplayer online video games originated as a subgenre of real-time strategy, though MOBA players usually do not construct buildings or units. The genre is seen as a fusion of real-time strategy, role-playing and action games.
The 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, which is also counted as the 5th Asian Indoor Games, was held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan in 2017. It became the third city in the former Soviet countries to win the right of hosting an Olympic Council of Asia-sanctioned event, following Astana and Almaty in Kazakhstan, which jointly-hosted the 2011 Asian Winter Games. The host city was chosen in Kuwait on 19 December 2010. On 6 July 2013 the flag of the Olympic Council of Asia was officially handed over to the mayor of the city of Ashgabat.
Esports for the 2013 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games was held at the Incheon Samsan World Gymnasium. It took place from 29 June to 2 July 2013. Six video games were chosen to be part of this Indoor and Martial Arts Games, FIFA 13, Need for Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, League of Legends and Special Force.
Arena of Valor, formerly Strike of Kings, is an international adaptation of Honor of Kings, a multiplayer online battle arena developed by TiMi Studio Group and published by Level Infinite for Android, iOS and Nintendo Switch for markets outside Mainland China. As of September 2018, the game has grossed over $140 million outside China. Arena of Valor was one of the esports titles featured at the 2018 Asian Games, 2019 Southeast Asian Games, 2021 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, and 2021 SEA Games as part of the competitive sport. Arena of Valor was published in other regions by Garena, DeNA, Actoz SG, and TiMi Studio Group.
The Philippines participated in the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan from 17-27 September 2017.
Cook Islands competed at the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan from September 17 to 27. 10 athletes competed in 4 different sports. Cook Islands team couldn't receive any medal at the Games.
Kiribati competed at the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan from September 17-27. Kiribati sent a delegation of 12 competitors in 3 different sports. Kiribati couldn't receive any medal at the Games.
Nauru competed at the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan from September 17 to 27. 9 participants competed in 3 different sports. Nauru did not win any medals in the multi-sport event.
The 2021 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, officially known as the 6th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games and also known as Bangkok–Chonburi 2021, was a planned pan-Asian multi-sport event in indoor and martial arts sports that was supposed to be held from 21 to 30 November 2024 in Thailand, with its capital Bangkok and the eastern Thai province of Chonburi serving as joint co-hosts.
Esports were featured at the 2018 Asian Games as a demonstration sport, meaning medals won in this sport would not be counted in the official overall medal tally. It was held from 26 August to 1 September 2018. Six video games were featured in the demonstration event, Arena of Valor, Clash Royale, Hearthstone, League of Legends, Pro Evolution Soccer, and StarCraft II.
Professional StarCraft II competition features professional gamers competing in Blizzard Entertainment's real-time strategy game StarCraft II. Professional play began following the game's initial release in 2010, as the game was the sequel to StarCraft, considered one of the first esports and the foundation of South Korea's interest and success in competitive gaming. Between 2016 and 2019, competition was centered around the Global StarCraft II League in Korea and the World Championship Series Circuit everywhere else, with all Blizzard-sanctioned events being under the StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) banner. Since 2020, Blizzard changed the format of WCS by entering into a three-year partnership with esports organizers ESL and DreamHack.
Esports at the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines was held at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan, Metro Manila from 5 to 10 December 2019. It was the first esports contest as a medal event in a multi-sport competition sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee after the discipline featured as a demonstration sport at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Esports at the 2022 Asian Games were held at Hangzhou Esports Center in Hangzhou, China from 24 September to 2 October 2023.
The Philippines national esports team represents the Philippines in international esports tournaments. It is organized under the Philippine Esports Organization.
