Cellcard in partnership with the Esports Federation of Cambodia (EFC) today announced the opening of the Wild Card selection for the next major Rules of Survival tournament.

Players have until 20 July to form a squad and sign up for the Wild Card tournament on Cellcard’s Playgame App.

10 teams from the Wild Card will go on to compete in the Rules of Survival KH Cup Season 3 tournament semi-final being held on 1 August.

With a prize pool of 50,000,000 Riels, Cellcard Chief Executive Officer Ian Watson said the online tournament would attract hundreds of gamers from across the Kingdom keen to challenge their peers.

Mr Watson said the tournament was made possible through Cellcard’s strong partnerships with both the EFC and Chinese game developer giant Netease.

“We’ve been working with the EFC and Netease for almost two years now to build the local gamer community and provide opportunities for Cambodians to participate in the much wider global scene.

“We launched Cambodia’s first virtual gaming platform in April called PlayGame to host online tournaments while we wait for on-ground events to be permitted again.

“The number of gamers on the platform has impressive growth as young people show a need to gather with their peers and belong to a community, even if it is virtual for the time being.”

Mr Watson said as Cambodia’s leading telco for Esports, and EFC’s exclusive telco partner, Cellcard would continue to expand its national programme to ensure Cambodians were represented in the larger Asian tournaments.

Globally Esports is a multi-billion dollar industry which is rapidly growing.

Cellcard estimates that Cambodia has about two million gamers today with neighboring markets like Thailand and Malaysia having 15 million gamers and 14 million gamers respectively.

Cellcard together with EFC hosted five major tournaments in Phnom Penh in 2019 attracting in total more than 1,000 teams.

As well as Netease, Cellcard has strong partnerships with world-leading gamer developers, Moonton and Tencent, to bring Mobile Legends and PUBG experiences, tournaments and incentives for gamers in Cambodia.

In addition to gaming, Cellcard is working on numerous E-Learning educational programmes.

Mr Watson said there would be announcements soon about the E-learning initiatives for schools.

“As the Proudly Khmer mobile network operator, Cellcard is committed to keeping as many young people connected and learning while schools are closed and also give them enjoyment and a chance to develop new skills and interests,” Mr Watson said.

“Cellcard is inclusive for everyone to participate and we ensure our tournaments and gaming platforms are open for all.

“We encourage open fair play because we believe it’s important to have authentic good game in the community.”

He said the end goal was for Cambodia to be well represented in the global arena with real career choices and income potential for Cambodians.