PPSL And The Fall Of Philippine E-SportsThis story is about how one man brought shame to the Philippine gaming community in one single blow. The events are stated in this blog are all factual telling the tales in which how the recently concluded IGSL Pacific Qualifiers came to be and how this event brought down the country’s reputation for gaming. We will not name any names of the suppliers and participants of this event, except for the one who orchastrated it all.
This started on May of 2011, when a gamer named TeamAZM WitchDoc or also known as Augustus “Gus” Ledesma approached several IT brands with a dream of uplifting the Philippine gaming community and truly placing the country in the radar of world gaming championships. It sounded like a great plan since no single gaming event could match the scale of the locally discontinued World Cyber Gaming Tournaments normally held by TV giant, Samsung. Most local Philippine events are held by PC stores, or component brands and lacked the class or organization to truly represent the country’s best gamers. The vision that this man had convinced several IT component manufacturers to join in for the event, which was aptly named Philippine Pro Starcraft League.
After several meetings, cost estimates and presentations, by June the event support for the PPSL was finally approved. The tournament was supposed to be held on the first week of October. Ledesma promised ad placements, event marketing, online and offline announcements to promote the event. (Take note that the tournament was still called PPSL and not IGSL Pacific Qualifiers. By this time, IGSL didn’t get involved yet in the event.) Two months came to pass, no one heard from Ledesma. By August, the only thing that the sponsors saw was the poster and jacket design. No word yet on how the event will happen, or what was needed for it. The sponsors were expecting the poster to be out in the gaming community and the IT industry by this time. It was imperative that the brands supporting the event would be broadcasted properly. Upon closer inspection, the posters were never printed, nor distributed to the IT industry as promised by Ledesma.
In one of the last email conversations that the sponsors had with Ledesma, his team mentioned “PPSL will change the way how the world will view Philippine gaming”. By the end of August, nothing turly substantial or major was presented. This earned the distrust of the sponsors, but because of their commitment to the event still decided to push thru with it. A marketing plan came from Ledesma and his marketing manager outlinining the following:
Hype video for the PPSL’s sponsor for viral marketing. Flyers to be handed out in strategic locations around Metro Manila. PPSL Will be giving out free goodies through their online promotions in Facebook. Updating all our partner websites with new details concerning the PPSL
None of the promised marketing plans were followed except for a few exposures from HWM and Philippine Star. This wasn’t the fault of Ledesma’s PR agency, but Ledesma who took so long to approve the PR that was needed by the event. Admists the shadiness of the organizer’s character, the partners already signed the contract on the event, so there was no backing out. It was reported that Ledesma asked for a substantial amount of money to make the event happen (event cost and the prize money), in which the combined effort of the partners was easily attainable. This is where things started to slope down. Eventhough that the partners paid already half for the event, Ledesma kept hammering the sponsors for more money. He asked an additional 16 computer units for which he didn’t explain why he needed more (the reality will be revealed later on) in which the partners did not agree anymore since the contract was already inked months before. He threathened that we would ask IT brands for marketing support if what he wanted couldn’t be given. Sadly, to his dismay, the contract in which he signed had an exclusivity clause in it so competing brands cannot participate in the event even if Ledesma wanted them to.
As the event date drew near, the partners received an email moving the event from October to November. This was to increase the visibility of the promotions that the PPSL needed and give more time for Ledesma to fine tune everything that was needed for the event. The final dates were set on November 7-8, 2011, almost simultaneous to the Pinoy Gaming Festival 2.0 that another gaming group called Mineski was planning. This was relayed to Ledesma, which reportedly said:
Mineski is for squatters, no one will go to that event
Around October, Ledesma flew the United States with his team without the knowledge of the partners. This was to ask for the official and financial support of IGN. By accepting IGN support, the event was now officially IGSL Pacific Qualifiers. This made the partners feel a tad queesy, since Ledesma held a significant amount of money and flew to Las Vegas with three other people. It gave the impression that he used the partner’s money to fund the trip.
Fast forward to November 7. The partners were setting up in Glorietta already as early as 12AM. All the requirements for the event was completed by 7AM and everything was already a green light. Whatever technical glitches on hardware was easily resolved by the partners team. When the players complained about how slow the PC’s were running, the units were immediately upgraded a few hours later. The main technical problem didn’t come from the hardware, but rather on the crawling internet connection that Globe Telecom provided. From 6750 to Glorietta, Globe provided a point to point 3Mbps connection to cater to 32 computer units. Anyone knows that a point to point 3Mbps connection cannot accommodate 32 players playing. This was the bandwidth that Ledesma asked from Globe hence the slow down in the games as well as in the broadcasts. The players had to split into groups, playing across Makati in different internet cafes. Some were left in Glorietta, the rest awaiting what will happen to them. The internet speed remained the same even during the second day. Although there were a lot of spectators and walk-in during the event which made the partners happy, Ledesma seemed uncontent. He was seen hammering the partners for additional for financial support even to the minutes before the prize awarding. It was even reported that the event marshalls and volunteers were not even paid their promised wages.
The main technical problem didn’t come from the hardware, but rather on the crawling internet connection that Globe Telecom provided. From 6750 to Glorietta, Globe provided a point to point 3Mbps connection to cater to 32 computer units.
As for the allegations regarding the players who were supposed to be flown in from abroad or even locally, we cannot comment on it. You’d have to read the links that are listed below if you want more information regarding that aspect of the tournament. As for the Heroes of Newerth side, when the partners pieced it all together, that was actually the reason why Ledesma was severely pushing the addition of 16 units for the tournament. Apparently, Ledesma was given a additional 2000USD to be used for prizes for the HON tournament which he promised to be simultaneous with the IPSL Tournament.
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=283925¤tpage=All http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=284234¤tpage=All http://www.gameops.net/2011/11/scandal-at-philippine-pro-starcraft.html http://www.sc2sea.com/printthread.php?t=2699 http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=283600 http://wunder.me/derek-dox-reball-speaks-out-on-ipl4-pacific-qualifiers/What seemed to be the main problem with Ledesma as far as the partners are concerned is his inability to present a concrete breakdown of expenses and the promised marketing mileage was not attained. Where were the team jackets and lanyards that the partners paid for? What happened to the big posters in the venue as well as the TV coverage? What happened to all the money? It made the partners feel that they were duped by a single entity the same way the rest of the international and local gaming communities. Truly, no single person has made such an impact in the gaming industry that it be making waves around the whole Philippines and international scene. Sadly, instead of putting the Philippines in the international map in a positive way, one man was able to turn the world disgusted at the Philippines on how this international competition happened.
EPT
