There's been a great deal of discussion surrounding SLCG and the prizes that are given at the championship. The discussion thread on the GLK DOTA 2 community ran into over 500 comments, showing a very active community not afraid to voice their opinion about things they're passionate about!

We'd love to provide some insight into the way we think, and the reasons behind the decisions we make when organising a tournament.

Our goals
When we sit down to organise a tournament, our entire thought process revolves around 5 main goals:
- Reach as many people as possible Islandwide, thereby promoting eSports
- Give as many participants as possible the best eSports experience we can
- Each event should be bigger and improve on the previous year
- Maintain international eSporting standards when conducting the tournament
- Do all of the above in a financially sustainable way so we can continue to organise events

Now, the main discussion revolves around cash prizes, and why SLCG doesn't have one despite being the largest eSports event in the country. Let's be clear - we have nothing against giving away cash prizes - cash prizes are great! We in fact give cash prizes at our smaller events like Kings of LAN. Unfortunately our decision making is limited by budgets. SLCG is completely funded by Gamer.LK, the community (registration fees etc) and the sponsors that we partner with. It is organised and made possible by the hard work of the community - all the way from pre-event setup, to refereeing, to post-event dismantling. Volunteers, referees and casters put in their heart and soul to make SLCG the greatest eSports experience Sri Lanka has to offer with no financial remuneration expected. Our expenses are covered by 6 months of sponsor hunting, hundreds of meetings, phone calls and uncountable hours of convincing brands to sponsor us. If you have tried getting a banner or souvenir ad for a school club event, you will know how much of an effort this involves. With 1 month left for the event, we take account of what we can afford, what we can't, and resize our budget accordingly. This has been an yearly struggle since the first SLCG in 2008. We do this year on year so that eSports in Sri Lanka has a stable championship at the end of every year, organised by the COMMUNITY. One that will be able to withstand the variable priorities of big brand marketing departments. Balancing the budget at SLCG is a hugely challenging and stressful task for us.

So this brings up the question, when budgets are limited what do you do? We prioritise. Do we have a qualifier in Kandy next year, or do we give a 1 million prize pool instead? To us, it's a no-brainer - spreading eSports far and wide is what we do, and it has worked great in creating communities in the regions we have embraced. Scrap the stage, lights and LED walls? We consider these minimum requirements, and our thinking is we'd like to give 3,000 participants a great eSports experience rather than give a huge cash prize to 35 participants. The image is a breakdown of our costs to organise SLCG '16.


This careful prioritisation and survival is the reason SLCG, and Gamer.LK still exists, and is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. During these 10 years, the event has made other big brands stand up and take notice of eSports. We're overjoyed that the number of large-scale eSports events in Sri Lanka is now increasing, with bigger budgets and significant prize pools. When SLCG started, there were many other tournaments that were started up with us - none stood the test of time like SLCG has. Today we organise University, Mercantile and School level championships alongside game development workshops and a digital entertainment expo. It'll be this same focus on growing the eSports scene that will guarantee that SLCG will be around for the foreseeable future as well, with you, the community, right beside us.

The mere fact that you guys manage to pull off something on the scale of SLCG is amazing. It's only when you sit down and think about just how complicated the logistics and budgeting is for an event so big that you really understand why the budget cuts so close to break-even. Great job guys, keep it up!

From my view, you guys took the first step to promote esports in SL, so that now its growing. RESPECT. . I guess when the community grow enough the funds and sponsors will grow... and in like 5 more years the real competition will begin, a new era for gaming champs in SL.......
Keep up the good work guys

From my view, you guys took the first step to promote esports in SL, so that now its growing. RESPECT. . I guess when the community grow enough the funds and sponsors will grow... and in like 5 more years the real competition will begin, a new era for gaming champs in SL.......
Keep up the good work guys

Indeed and a kind request to made from the organizers, if there's any chance of including Rainbow Six Siege this year, as there's a rising community here in SL today. Would be delighted if you can consider this.
And thanks and cheers for another splendid event to come.