Major fighting game tourney REV Major Philippines coming this July

The recently concluded “Tekken 7” launch tournament, Rage Art, exhibited the Filipino player’s fighting prowess.

Rage Art was just the beginning of the local fighting game community’s taste of professional “Tekken 7” competition, however. According to Richard Brojan – PlayBook owner and one of those responsible for making Rage Art happen – there’s an even bigger fighting game tournament on the horizon.

“We actually have a major tournament this July 8 to 9,” said Brojan. “(Tekken 7 developer and publisher) Bandai Namco and Twitch announced the REV Major Philippines.

 

REV Major Philippines is a Tekken World Tour Master Event for the Asia-Pacific region. In addition to “Tekken 7,” it will include other popular fighting games such as “Street Fighter V,” “Injustice 2,” “The King of Fighters XIV,” “Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2,” “Super Smash Bros.,” and “Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.”

Rage Art attracted many professional Filipino eSports teams such as the Elite group and the Empire group. Brojan’s own team, PlayBook Esports, was of course part of the tournament, bringing some of its top tier talents – including 16-year-old “Tekken” prodigy Alexandre “AK” Laverez – to the fore. International eSports organization Echo Fox also sent Kim “JDCR” HyunJin and Choi “Saint” Jinwoo to the country to compete in Rage Art.

Because REV Major Philippines will be a much larger event than Rage Art, we can expect even more professional teams and players to flock to it.

“It’s a major event,” stated Brojan. “So we expect all the international players from Japan, Korea, all Asia, and even Europe and the USA to fly to Manila this July 8 for that major tournament.”

“To show you just how much confidence Bandai Namco has in the Philippine Tekken community, they’re bringing a Master event to the Philippines,” said Victor “Sp00ky” Fontanez. “Other tournaments that have strong players are only standard qualifiers, not Masters. That REV Major is a Masters event says a lot.”

Fontanez is a well-known fighting game streamer and the president of fighting game Twitch channel TeamSp00ky. He was present at Rage Art as a commentator. Of course, he will also be at REV Major Philippines.

REV Major Philippines will take place at the Power Mac Center Spotlight at Circuit Makati.

Skill and attitude

According to Brojan, big tournaments such as Rage Art and REV Major Philippines are great venues for players to get noticed and possibly recruited by professional teams.

“Whenever you see a young player beating a seasoned player from a professional team, for sure the heads of those groups will have their eyes on him or her,” he said. “For us at PlayBook, for example, if we see someone who’s really good at the game, we give them the opportunity, and we sponsor them.”

It takes more than skill to get admitted into PlayBook Esports, however.

“We look at their attitude, as well,” explained Brojan. “We make sure they have a good background. Because, although PlayBook is highly invested in eSports, it’s still a family-friendly place. So we have to maintain that image. We have to make sure that the players are very marketable, as well.”

In fact, PlayBook Esports star player AK was discovered this way.

“We organized the Tekken Tag 2 tournament 3 years ago at Philippine Gaming Festival,” Brojan shared. “I met AK there and all the top players. I looked at how they played, I looked at their backgrounds. After talking to them, I recruited those that had the correct image, attitude, and skill to represent PlayBook.”

For more information about REV Major Philippines, visit its official Facebook page and website. Find the registration page here. — TJD, GMA News