▲ (From left) Gary Wang, president of Eastern Group; Hou Yu-ih, mayor of New Taipei City; and Jason Chung, general manager of ASUS Open Platform, announced the launch of the New Taipei City ESports Hub 2.0, a collaboration between industry, government, and academia to promote the New Taipei e-sports ecosystem.
The New Taipei City Government is promoting the e-sports ecosystem in collaboration with the Eastern Group, ASUS ROG Republic of Gamers, and ahq e-Sports Club, in order to provide young people who are e-sports enthusiasts a platform to showcase their skills, and announced the launch of the New Taipei ESports Hub 2.0 at a press conference on the 24th. At the launch ceremony, Hou Yu-ih, mayor of New Taipei City, together with Gary Wang, president of Eastern Group, and Jason Chung, general manager of ASUS Open Platform, signed their signatures on the transparent case of the top-of-the-line ROG and New Taipei City ESports Hub gaming models; they also accepted the official gift of team uniform from the ahq e-Sports Club. The ceremony was a symbol of the New Taipei City Government’s efforts to pool the energy of industry, government, and academia to promote the growth of the e-sports ecosystem in the city.
The New Taipei City Government established the “New Taipei City ESports Hub” to nurture outstanding e-sports talents, and it has already trained 250 talents in the e-sports industry since 2019. In 2020, the New Taipei City Government joined forces with the Eastern Group, which has continuously achieved outstanding results in the new media and new retail sectors, as well as introduced professional high-end equipment from ROG, a leading gaming brand of ASUS, to build the “New Taipei City ESports Hub 2.0”. “ETtoday” under the Eastern Group is the most popular news media among young people with more than 17 million users to the website. Its no-expense-spared production of the talent show “Jungle Voice” was not only supported by young people from home and abroad, but also won the 54th Golden Bell Award for Best Variety Programme in 2019. This time, Eastern will use our rich experience and group resources to help the “New Taipei City ESports Hub 2.0” create the best e-sports stage for young people and enhance the development of the e-sports industry.
▲ Hou Yu-ih, mayor of New Taipei City; Ho Yu-ming, director of the New Taipei City Economic Development Department; Gary Wang, president of Eastern Group; Jason Chung, general manager of ASUS Open Platform; and Lin Cheng-yang, CEO of ahq e-Sports Club, as well as members of the ahq Team attended the “New Taipei City ESports Hub 2.0 Launch x e-Sports Team Press Conference” on the 24th.
According to Gary Wang, e-sports has become a national sport for young people all over the world. Global e-sports revenue has reached NT$33 billion and an audience of over 380 million viewers, with Asia being the fastest growing region, and Taiwan being the fastest growing country in this region. Taiwan’s e-sports output has exceeded NT$53 billion and provides 9 million people with business opportunities. E-Sports has become a fast growing industry, as well as a healthy sport, and e-sports will be included in the Asian Games in 2022. ETtoday supports the New Taipei City ESports Hub, providing young people with a high-quality platform, and also supports Taiwan’s top competitive team ahq. ETtoday always stands together with our youth, so we have established “ETtoday E-Sports” in the hopes that young people in Taiwan can practice and grow through this platform. Eastern will also be establishing the largest media and cultural creative center in Asia, and even the world, in Linkou, providing a stage for cultural and creative activities, e-sports, and entertainment for up to 5,000 people. We hope that our youth will shine in international competitions and become the light of Taiwan in the future.
New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih mentioned that not only is the e-sports industry popular among young people, but with the great attention it has received, it will be one of the Asian Games events to be seen by the world in the future. As the only competitive e-sports venue in Taiwan, the upgrade of New Taipei City ESports Hub to version 2.0 and the alliance with ahq e-Sports Club will give the New Taipei City e-sports team the opportunity to shine on the world stage. It’s a small step, but also a big one. In addition, the e-sports digital academy has been completed recently, and some of the activities already held include courses on e-sports industry talents, e-sports programs, e-sports level 3 judge qualification attainment, coach training, and matchmaking for e-sports talents. To date, nearly 710 new e-sports professionals have been trained. The partnership with Eastern, ASUS ROG, and ahq e-Sports Club has brought together the resources of various enterprises to nurture more e-sports professionals. In the future, we hope that the media and cultural creative center in Linkou will become a place for athletes to compete, not only for the economy, but also for sports, and more importantly, for the hope and future of our youth.
▲ Hou Yu-ih (right) accepting the ahq team uniform from Lin Cheng-yang, CEO of ahq e-Sports Club (left).
In the face of the pandemic, the Hub has made advance preparations. In addition to regular disinfection of the Hub’s equipment, the ASUS smart video-conferencing solution was also implemented, and e-sports industry certification and multimedia digital learning courses were also established. Through the comprehensive online courses, the aim is to cultivate professional talents, from learning to employment, and to provide a high-quality e-sports learning experience and teaching environment.
In addition to creating a comfortable e-sports space, the New Taipei City Government is also supporting Taiwan’s homegrown e-sports events, and has joined forces with the famous “ahq e-Sports Club” to expand the promotion of the e-sports industry and introduce a new e-sports era to attract the younger generation. Furthermore, the E-Sports Digital Academy has also been established. It provides a wide variety of professional e-sports courses including video editing, event planning and execution, and production and broadcasting. It is also working in collaboration with ROG to build up an industry-government-academia e-sports talent pool to help the development of online digitalization of courses at the New Taipei City ESports Hub. For outstanding students, ROG and ETtoday will provide prioritized interview recruitment for the interns of the ASUS CEO Campus program or internship opportunities with Eastern Group, to ensure that the vision of building a complete e-sports industry chain can come to fruition.
According to Jason Chung, general manager of ASUS Open Platform, ROG has a long history of intensive involvement with tournaments and events. To date, ROG has established the ROG Campus E-Sports Alliance with 14 colleges and universities in Taiwan. This time, ASUS is honored to join hands with the New Taipei City Government to establish the New Taipei City ESports Hub and become the designated hardware brand, proving a wide range of e-sports products to meet all user needs. In addition, ASUS will launch an exclusive ASUS Classroom with customized hands-on courses for the public to show their support for the long-term development of the e-sports industry.
New Taipei City hopes that students, parents, and children of all ages and backgrounds will be able to enjoy the fun and educational offerings of e-sports at the New Taipei City ESports Hub. Subsequently, the Hub will host e-sports workshops to share information about computer building DIY, water cooling system DIY, e-sports, games, and other related topics with the public. The planning of five gaming tournaments for all ages is also currently ongoing, in order to give back constructively to New Taipei City residents and those who are interested in e-sports.
▲ Hou Yu-ih (left) and President Gary Wang of Eastern Group (second from right) enjoying a shooting game.
At the press conference, Hou Yu-ih and Gary Wang tried out the new facilities of the New Taipei City ESports Hub, including professional learning areas such as the Experience Area, film studio, broadcasting studio, and teaching classrooms. They also joined a classroom online course through the ASUS smart video-conferencing solution for real-time interaction with the ahq team coaches. In addition, in the interactive experience area, they tried out ROG’s premium-end desktops with professional gaming headsets and large gaming screens, becoming cops chasing after bad guys in the immersive shooting game.