Campus-based Esports events have always been a nostalgic point for the Bangladeshi gaming community. From the cyber cafe era of the mid-2000s to the WCG days, and even today, inter-campus competitions have always been cherished more deeply than open LAN events.
However, 2024 had yet to kick off in terms of campus-based events, largely due to recent political instability in the country. Other factors like supremacy of open events and large prize pools also contributed to this fact. Following the emergence of a new Bangladesh and a long break, though, universities operating like before have reignited the craze of campus-based Esports. Within the span of a few weeks, major universities like the Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) and East West University (EWU) have announced their respective inter-university Esports championships.
IUB Esports Club announced their premier event, National Collegiate Esports Championship (NCEC) Season 2 featuring Valorant, FC24 and eFootball Mobile. It features a total prize pool of 100,000 BDT for Valorant, FC24 and eFootball Mobile, each segment having prize pools of 50,000 BDT, 25,000 BDT, and 25,000 BDT respectively. Entry fees have been allocated for each segment. Team registration for Valorant will cost 450 BDT, while solo registration for both FC24 and eFootball have been priced at 150 BDT. There are also three more non-gaming segments, namely Futsal, TechChamp, and a tech business case competition. The finals will be held at IUB’s campus situated in Bashundhara R/A, Dhaka, on December 01 and 02.
On the other Hand, EWU Robotics Club (EWURC) launched Esports Rivals, a segment of their annual event, National Robofest 2024 presented by Prime Bank. This segment will feature two games, Valorant and FC24. With a prize pool of 40,000 BDT, EWURC made it free to enter with no entry fees being imposed on the participants. The prize pool has been divided into 30,000 BDT for Valorant and 10,000 BDT for EAFC24. The finals will be hosted on the first day of National Robofest 2024, 7 November, at the EWU Campus situated at Aftabnagar, Dhaka.
Apart from this, North South University has also executed a small-scale intra FC24 event called “NSUCEC GameWave” recently. Organised by NSU Computer & Engineering Club in collaboration with Gigabyte Aorus, this tournament was a way to raise funds for flood rehabilitation.
IUB’s National Collegiate Esports Championship is being backed up by Gigabyte and Aorus. Similarly, EWU’s Esports Rivals has been vetted by Star Tech as the title sponsor and gaming peripheral partner, alongside Zenetic Esports as the Esports partner.
