Sri Lanka Telecom organised the  SLT ZeroOne Awards for the year 2017/18 on the 11th of December. It is a unique ceremony dedicated to recognising digital excellence in brands, individuals as well as institutions who have made large strides and advancements with the assistance of digital technology. This awards program is a brainchild of Sri Lanka Telecom PLC.

The SLT Zero One Awards was first held in 2016 where it became a huge success as a centre of attraction in the business world. The 2017/2018 edition awarded businesses and/or individuals for the work undertaken during the period of 2017/2018 in the areas of Best Digital-enabled Product/Service, Best Digital-Integrated Campaign, Best Community Empowerment Programme, Best Digital Media Agency, Best Website or Microsite, Best Use of Mobile.

The award was won for the wide reaching digital campaign for Play Expo 2017 – Sri Lanka’s largest digital entertainment and technology expo

With roots in Esports and organising the largest video gaming championships in Sri Lanka, Gamer.LK consists of technology enthusiasts who are keen to see digital entertainment in Sri Lanka grow. Gamer.LK has become the flagship organisation for Esports in the country and boasts of a community of over 50,000 that follow and take part in our events and initiatives. With over 11 years of experience in the Esports and digital entertainment industry in Sri Lanka, Gamer.LK takes pride in leading the revolution to bring digital entertainment to the masses. Utilizing social media platforms such as Facebook,Youtube as well as Twitch, Gamer.LK continues to focus on digitally driven campaigns and promotions aimed at maximising user engagement and reach, thereby enabling the growth in the Esports community which resulted in Gamer.LK being awarded the Best Digital-Integrated Campaign in the Category for Media and Publishing.

Below is a short clip of Vikum Jayasekara, Director of InGame Entertainment receiving the award at the ceremony taken from their livestream.

Having well-coordinated activities are critical to the success of any marketing campaign. Demonstrating how different mediums have come into play while simultaneously making sure that the marketing message is received by the greatest number of people within the target market. Highlighting how digital marketing campaigns have played a pivotal role in the  execution of any event or marketing plan. Gamer.LK will keep taking strides to grow Esports in the Nation and take it to newer heights. If you want to be apart of this award winning team check out one of our available vacancies

• Head of Esports content – https://gamer.lk/vacancies/head-of-content/
• Content guru – Sinhala – https://gamer.lk/vacancies/content-guru-sinhala/
• Video Editor – https://gamer.lk/vacancies/video-editor-at-gamer-lk/
• Graphics Designer – https://gamer.lk/vacancies/graphics-designer-at-gamer-lk/

For further details contact us on – [email protected]

Gaming has grown to become something more than just your casual hobby with the introduction of Esports and everyone who’s anyone has been taking part in a lot of tournaments organized around Sri Lanka. Gaming itself has introduced multiple platforms for various types of games some such examples being Riot Games for League of legends. Blizzard for Overwatch and Hearthstone etc. Among these platforms one stands out and that is Steam. Steam is a digital distribution platform developed by Valve Corporation for purchasing and playing video games

Mainly to purchase games, games and more games. This is where the main challenge for gamers as well as children kind of rise to the surface as most of the popular or most played games involve purchasing the games with money. With the intention of bringing to light methods of which you can purchase these games we have the top 5 ways for you to purchase games on Steam here in Sri Lanka

Gifted from a friend

Receiving gifts from a friend is probably the best way for the younger crowd of gamers to receive new and popular games. Not having to get up off your gaming chair to head over to a bank or to find a way to take your parents credit card when they are not looking, this method definitely makes it easier to get what you want and not get into any trouble in the process.

FriMi

FriMI by NTB. Available on the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store, FriMi is essentially a digital lifestyle partner.One key point that should be highlighted about FriMi is that it is available to anyone. So even if you don’t have an NTB bank account, you can still enjoy all the features of the app.

• Once you download and install the app, you are required to sign up for a FriMi account or login to an existing account.
• Next you will be required to enter your personal details such as Name, Date of Birth, employment etc.
• Following the previous step you will have to create a FriMi ID in order to use the service. The ID will also works as your bank account.
• Add your virtual debit card or FriMi debit card on steam and use the debit card to make purchases for your favorite games
• Receive a 10% discount on your first total bill which has to total up to rs. 3000/- so not only do you get to purchase what you want you also get your money back

Sounds like a great deal doesn’t it? Here’s a video on how users can get their virtual debit card detail in app – http://bit.ly/FriMiVirtualCard

Dialog

Dialog Gaming is the first Sri Lankan network to allow direct billing for purchase of games, credits or in-app-purchases through Steam. The amount will simply be added or deducted from your Dialog Prepaid account or Postpaid bill. With absolutely no extra charges to purchase a game other than the value specified on Steam, purchasing games via Dialog is cheaper and easier as you would only require a Dialog Connection. This hassle-free payment gateway will permit the purchase of games and add ons with no credit or debit card.

With a huge variety of options available to all gamers to add onto to their steam library with the addition of Dialogs top up option and FriMi’s virtual debit card which anyone has access too, definitely provides a much simpler access to your favorite games compared to a few years back where it was significantly more difficult to acquire the games you wanted most. What do you think about our list? If we missed any options please let us know down in the comments section!.

2018 was a milestone year for Gamer.LK and Esports in Sri Lanka as a whole. Participation and viewership grew to an all-time high, with the number of tournaments and prize money given out for the sport being its highest ever. We at the Gamer.LK headquarters sat down to put together numbers on everything Esports in Sri Lanka for 2018. Here’s what we found:

Prize money
Over Rs. 7 million was awarded to Esports athletes in 2018. This is a significant jump in cash money awarded compared to previous years, mostly due to Dialog Play Expo organised by Gamer.LK featuring a prize pool of Rs. 5 million. Along with Dialog Play Expo, the SLT Esports Championship also featured a Rs. 1 million prize pool, and with smaller tournaments like the SLT Cafe Challenge series and Mobitel X-Station tournaments round out the Rs. 7 million figure. You’d find it hard to find any other sporting tournament in Sri Lanka with a Rs. 5 million prize pool. 2019 is looking like it’s going to continue the upward growth and break more records!

Tournaments and participation
We counted 39 Esports tournaments held in 2018 that were recognised by Gamer.LK and the Sri Lanka Esports Association. Participation in those tournaments amounted to 10,000 registrations, with 160 of those being female. While 160 is less than 2% of total participation, it’s a significant improvement over previous years largely thanks for initiatives by Gamer.LK like the women’s league to promote female participation in the sport.

Esports titles and platform
21 Esports titles were played competitively in 2018. To figure out what the most played Esports titles are we took total participation numbers across all tournaments and divided it by the number of tournaments featuring that title – this gave us an average number of participants per tournament, per title.
No surprise, Call of Duty 4 averaged as the most played title in Sri Lanka. Coming in second place is newcomer to Sri Lankan Esports, Mobile Legends, with a strong participation showing at the Sri Lanka Cyber Games. Dota 2 comes in at 3. Here are the games that made the top 10 list:

1) Call of Duty 4
2) Mobile Legends: Bang Bang
3) Dota 2
4) Rainbow 6 Siege
5) PUBG Mobile
6) League of Legends
7) Counter-Strike: GO
8) Overwatch
9) FIFA
10) Special Force 2

PC was the most popular platform with 78% of participants playing titles on PC, 23% on mobile and just 5% on console.

International representation
This year we were able to send eight Esports athletes abroad to *officially* represent the country with the support of the Ministry of Sports and the National Olympic Committee. This was for the 18th Asian Games held in August 2018. Sri Lankan Esports athlete Amruth Alfred beat the rest of South Asia to qualify for the main games in Indonesia where he faced off against the best Starcraft 2 players in the world!

Just Gamer.LK things
In 2018 we paid out over Rs. 600,000 in fees to our referees, casters and event coordinators. This was a 3x increase compared to the year before. It’s a good time to be in Esports as that number is going to go through the roof in 2019 as we ramp up our activities with full-time staff and mega-events!

Oh, and we also spent over Rs. 400,000 on that fresh, crispy GLK roll goodness 😉

Stick with us as we bring you a record breaking 2019 for Esports!

A sign of the times – with Gamer.LK’s consistent promotion of the sport, Esports has secured the position of fastest growing sport in Sri Lanka. We have another milestone to kick-off the year – the inclusion of the sport in Dialog’s annual desk calendar where we’ve got a May 2019 spot! Gamer.LK worked with the League of Legends national team who represented the country at both the Asian Games and the Esports World Cup in 2018 to showcase a typical Esports gaming setup, with high end gaming peripherals and portraying the electric atmosphere of an Esports match.

Dialog is a strong proponent and a prolific promoter of sports in the country, powering many sportsmen and women to achieve their goals. The 2019 Dialog Calendar is a reflection of their passion, determination and resilience in moments of excellence.

Seen in the picture are Achintha “Nightmare” Konara, Ashik “ASH” Saleeth and Shalitha “Acelord” Chandraratne. Hilal “Dew” Jismy and Akthar “Blueakthar” Hafeez also contributed to the shoot. 

This years Dialog calendar mixes Augmented Reality (AR) concepts where users can use their smartphone to get further details about specific dates on the calendar. For more information on the calendar visit https://www.dialog.lk/calendar

Acer’s Predator League DOTA 2 championship landed on Sri Lankan shores in the latter part of 2018 and concluded last weekend with the crowning of Sri Lanka’s best DOTA 2 team. The championship was conducted as a country qualifier, where the winner of the tournament will represent Sri Lanka at the grand finals in Thailand for a shot at the USD 400,000 prize pool. Thailand will have 10 teams from 9 countries taking a shot at the title – Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, India, Myanmar and Mongolia.

The Sri Lankan Qualifiers

Registrations for the local qualifier commenced on the 12th of November on Gamer.LK and closed on the 10th December with 45 teams registered. The tournament was broken into two stages – online qualifiers and a LAN event where the top 4 teams were brought together at the Jaic Hilton. Online qualifiers commenced on the 13th of December where the 45 teams were whittled down to the top 4 – nA.Bedtime Samurais, Div|Death Sentence, PnX.Indomitus and X3.Victorious Secret.

LAN

The final stage of the event was held on the 13th of January ‘18 in the Grand Ballroom of Jaic Hilton. The 4 qualified teams played out the knockout bracket, with semi-finals being played as bo1 and the finals played bo3.

Semi Final 1: PnX.Indomitus vs nA.Bedtime Samurais

Winner: PnX.Indomitus

The tournament favorites Indomitus took on underdogs Bedtime Samurais in the first match of the day. Indomitus pulled through convincingly to the grand finals with a 27 minute base wipe.

Semi Final 2 : X3.Victorious Secret vs Div|Death Sentence

Winner: X3.Victorious Secret

The two Sri Lankan Dota 2 juggernauts were up next, with Victorious Secret being a formidable force since their rise in the Sri Lankan ranks in the past few years. Death Sentence included standalone Sivasubramaniam ‘Prince’ Aarathanan in their lineup who played the role of drafter for this game. Victorious Secret took the game in a well-deserved 35 min battle. With that, VS secured their place in the finals against Indomitus, and Death Sentence was pushed to fight for third place against Bedtime Samurais.

Third place match : Div|Death Sentence vs nA.Bedtime Samurais

With DS looking demoralised after their loss to VS, Bedtime Samurais saw this as their opportunity to clinch a third-place spot by upsetting DS. Drafting was handed to Sathan who looked to be in good form. However, after a 18 minute game, Bedtime Samurais’ dreams were dashed as Death Sentence took the win and secured their third place position.

The Finals : PnX.Indomitus vs X3.Victorious Secret

With Indomitus being as strong as they are, the finals was looking like a David vs Goliath situation. Indomitus breezed through to clinch the victory with a decisive 2-0 win against Victorious Secret, thus taking the Predator Shield and sending VS home with a runner-up placement.

Indomitus took home Rs. 300,000 in cash, some great peripherals and that amazing Predator Shield trophy sent over to Sri Lanka from Acer. Indomitus will be flying out to Thailand for the grand final in Bangkok happening from the 15th to the 17th February 2019.

We wish our champions the best of luck as they carry the Sri Lankan flag for yet another Esports event abroad! Follow Gamer.LK for news of our boys in Thailand.