2021 Gen.T Honouree Irymarc “Tryke” Gutierrez, co-founder and CEO of Tier One Entertainment, one of Southeast Asia's biggest e-sports talent platforms, on the growth of the industry and the coming opportunities in the space
Like many seasoned gamers, Gen.T honouree Irymarc “Tryke” Gutierrez spent much of his youth sat in front of a computer playing Dota 2, the online battle-arena video game that continues to be his favourite. But as co-founder and CEO of Southeast Asia’s leading e-sports talent platform, Tier One Entertainment, the veteran has his sights set on a new domain: mobile gaming.
The shift from PC to mobile was crucial to the industry's growth in Gutierrez's native Philippines, where significantly more people own smartphones than computers, and internet cafes remain inaccessible due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “The gamer in me and the ‘Tryke’ in me wants to stay in Dota,” he says, “[but] as the CEO of Tier One, I need to create the machinery to support [the mobile] ecosystem, because that’s where the audience is.” Thanks to the inclusion of e-sports in the Southeast Asian Games and Asian Games—not to mention initiatives such as Tier One's bachelor of science degree in e-sports, which it developed with a Philippine university—that audience is rapidly growing.
Here, Tryke discusses the industry’s transformation in Southeast Asia and shares tips on how to build your brand as a gamer.
See also: How Big is the Esports Community in the Philippines?
For a long time, gaming wasn't taken seriously as a sport. What was the turning point?
Being a gamer growing up, I never felt that [gaming] was small. It’s just something that not a lot of people in the mainstream see. Gaming has been a multi-billion dollar industry for a while, but it’s growing because of the non-existence of sports right now due to the logistical challenges of COVID-19. People are looking for ways to compete and socialise outside of chats. Gaming allows you to do that, and that’s why it’s becoming more of a lifestyle rather than just a hobby.
E-sports has always had a bright future. Globally, it really turned a lot of heads because people realised how much viewership and growth we had in the past years. People are finally believing in it. Outside of that, look at the Southeast Asian Games—e-sports is part of that. The Asian Games just announced that e-sports is going to be part of the games as well. Those are the kind of statements that prove it’s the institutions that are really looking into the space now.
How has the e-sports industry and audience transformed over recent years, in the Philippines and throughout Southeast Asia?
In Southeast Asia, the mobile platform exponentially grew the market. Today, anyone with a cellphone can be a gamer. Games like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Call of Duty: Mobile created a huge ‘big bang’ of growth in e-sports because almost everyone has a smartphone right now. So e-sports has really grown exponentially with the transfer from PC to the mobile platform.
Furthermore, in the Philippines, Tier One helped launch BS E-Sports with LPU (Lyceum of the Philippines University). It’s a four-year course and the first e-sports course in Southeast Asia. If that’s not a testament to the acceptance of e-sports here in the country, I don’t know what is.
See also: 7 of the Best Smartphones for Gaming 2021: Huawei, Samsung, and More