For Frost and Mickey, the Tekken254 Circuit has always been their ground for showcasing a portion of their talent. The Circuit, currently in its fourth season, has seen a lot of changes not just from the management side but player side too. Every player has improved tremendously making the competition stiffer and more entertaining to watch.

AP_MICKEY

The USIU Psychology student is well known for his great knowledge of the Tekken 7 game within the Kenyan Tekken community. The current Kenyan league champion has played in all 17 tournaments winning a total of 128 Sets and losing in only 4. He boasts of a record carrying 16 tournaments and losing one to the person he will be facing in the Fight Night opener, Frost.

The humble kid has also represented Kenya in one of the Tekken World Tour Masters Event that was held in Dubai last year, a low-key move in the Kenyan Sports industry. Mickey managed a joint-65^th position finish in a loaded tournament that attracted top class Tekken7 players such as Knee, Fergus, LowHigh, Ulsan and other Tekken greats.

MoM_FROST

Hardworking, humble and hungry, this is the only way we can describe him. The 20-year-old player signed to Nairobi’s up and coming Esports Organization Masters of Mayhem continues to improve in every tournament he enters. He has managed to improve his Set Wins in every season to pushing himself to a regular top-three finish alongside Mickey and DVK. He has so far participated in 15 Tekken254 sanctioned tournaments winning 80 Sets while dropping 37.

FIGHT NIGHT OPENER

The Fight Night series seeks to showcase Kenya’s growing Esports scene with a great Tekken 7 competition played by our very own Community players. The Fight Night series will have the privilege to be opened by the two players currently sitting in position one and two of the Tekken254 Circuit standings.

Follow @AceProGaming_Ke and @itstekken254 for more information regarding the Savanna Fight Night.

Tekken254 action resumes after a long break due to the suspension of our offline division operations (Tekken254 Circuit) caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement by the Savanna FGC Organizers detailed an online competition dubbed the Fight Night seeking to grow and improve our Online division. The online division was first run in 2019 under the name Iron Fist Fridays hosted by Davy Kamanzi attracting 20 members of the community.

Fight Night

The Fight Night will be a bi-monthly competition held online inviting community members of the Tekken254. The Fights will be streamed live on the Tekken254 YouTube channel.

“We seek to improve Kenya’s online competition space with a great community-centric competition seeking to bring together the Tekken254 community and showcasing the competitive Circuit to the masses,” says Ace Pro Gaming director.

MoM_Frost v. Mickey

Arguably the biggest Esport matchup in the Kenyan FGC space will open up the Savanna Fight Night series. Kenya’s best Tekken 7 player will go up against his newest rival and the only player to beat him in a tournament Grand Final, Frost.

The Masters of Mayhem sponsored player Frost will face Mickey in a First To 10 (FT10) matchup on the 22^nd of this month. The matchup will be the opener of the Fight Night series that is set to kick-off two weeks later (5^th and 6^th) with an undercard and main card fight on the roster.

The Fight Night series invites you to watch the best of the best Tekken7 players battle it out from their homes to your screens live on YouTube.

STAY SAFE. 

The next page for Kenya’s Tekken scene is here, the Fight Night series is an online Tekken 7 competition that will be played by members of the Tekken254 community with further plans to invite and play against none-Kenyan Tekken 7 players. The series was initially born in 2018 under the name of Iron Fist Fridays that was hosted by Davy Kamanzi on the Tekken254 Twitch channel.

The Fight Night series will run a bi-monthly live stream on select Fridays and Saturdays with at least two scheduled matchups per day. The Fight Night will see undercard and two main card fights happen during the selected weekends.

ONLINE COMMUNITY

The Tekken254 community has seen immense growth since its inception in 2017. The community, through the Circuit, has seen a growth in numbers and game knowledge over time, this is slowly encouraging and positioning Kenyan esports scene regionally and internationally.

With the government directives suspending public gathering across the country due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Tekken254 Circuit was suspended with most of the Tekken action moving online. The Fight Night seeks to create a platform through which Kenyan Tekken players can connect and compete during night hours.

Follow @AceProGaming_Ke and @itstekken254 for more info regarding Fight Night.

Motorsports fans in Kenya received great news last year when the WRC awarded Kenya a host status for the 2020 WRC Calendar. Kenya is set to host the 8^th leg of the 14 WRC Series stops this year.

Apart from this, Esports and video game lovers, especially motorsport video game in Kenya were further blessed with a trailer of the new WRC game set to drop this year in September featuring a Kenyan stage. The new stage is part of the three new stages announced by the WRC 9 Game developers.

We looked forward to seeing a new challenge in the game.

A community of Fighting Game players competing in an eight-month schedule monthly. A Kenyan community is slowly positioning itself in the African Esports market.

The Savanna Fighting Game Community (FGC) currently has two fighting game titles (Tekken 7 & Mortal Kombat 11). Both of these community members meet periodically to compete in the Savanna Circuit.

THE SAVANNA CIRCUIT (Tekken254 Circuit & The Kenya Kombat Series)

The circuit constitutes an eight-month league schedule with 7 tournaments in total. The Tekken254 Circuit runs the Tekken title game and is in its fourth season while the Kenya Kombat Series (named Rampage Series due to naming rights) is in its first-ever season.

The players are competing for points each tournament with a target to finish top 16 and advance for the Savanna Majors that is scheduled later in the second quarter of the year.

2020 SEASON SCHEDULE

The year kicked off with the Circuit opener in January where MoM_Frost bagged Q1 while back to back to back champion Mickey finished second. This was the first time Mickey failed to bag a qualifier.

Fast forward to the second qualifier, Frost re-ignited his flames and sent Mickey to the losers’ bracket but later fell to DVK in the Winners’ Finals. DVK booked a grand final against Mickey. Mickey proved he is still the best in the community by resetting the bracket and beating DVK (3-0)

The circuit took a break this month and will be back on April 25^th. As organizers, we acknowledge the coronavirus situation in our country and we will be monitoring the situation as we prepare for the third Qualifier.

Just a few months ago, Kenyan police walked in a gaming lounge in Kasarani centre, a residential area in Nairobi where they arrested a group of young boys playing FIFA. The officials claimed the activities in the lounge were of gambling and betting nature due to the fact that machines (Play Station Consoles) were being used.

The notion that video gaming in Kenya is a gambling activity does not only stop with the police but with many who misunderstand video games and its competitive side (Esports) as a betting craze that requires tight regulations. The BLG Cap 131 Act 2016 also does not spare Esports as it cites “Gaming” as part of the Betting and Lotteries industry. The Act cites Gaming as “playing a game of chance for winnings in money or sums of money worth” with a 50% tax rate of the revenue per month.

BETTING v. ESPORTS

Take an example of a match between Liverpool and Everton set to be played in the town of Liverpool, a bettor living in Nairobi will place his or her bet on the odds giving by the bookmaker. The bettor has no physical nor mental control to change the game, the bettor is simply waiting on the result of the game whereas, in Esports, the gamer has every control of the competition, he or she has the physical and mental push to win the game, the gamer controls the game.

Equating Esports to gambling is not only a total misunderstanding of what many young people in Kenya are doing but also a barrier to its growth in this region. Kenya is currently cementing itself as a huge market for competitive video games in the wider Eastern and Central region with further efforts to dominate the African region in specific games.

Strides have already been taken with Tekken 7, a fighting game where Kenya is seeking dominance in the region with two of our players competing at the Tekken World Tour events last year in Cape Town and Dubai. The University FIFA Series seeks to position Kenya as a top FIFA market in the region as competitive FIFA continues to grow globally.

Regulators and corporate entities should look deeper into the industry before making conclusions about Esports. Open conversations with industry players and competitors will also help understand Esports. We hope to see a future where we talk openly about our efforts and goals.

SAVANNA FGC SCHEDULE

With that, check out our 2020 Circuit schedule for Tekken 7 and Mortal Kombat 11 series of competitions set to start from January and end with a final in August. Visit our social media pages

Twitter: @AceProGaming_Ke

The Savanna FGC which seeks to hosts Kenya’s greatest Fighting Game Community invites you all to a launch event that will house a Tekken254 and Mortal Kombat 11 tournaments at the Waterfront Mall in Karen.

With efforts to streamline and grow Esports in the country, Ace Pro Gaming and Tekken254 created the Tekken254 Circuit that is a one in a kind series of Tekken7 competitions that have run for three seasons since its inception. Gearing for its season four, part of the community will be in action today at the BulBul by Cheza lounge located at the Waterfront Mall, Karen.

The Tekken7 Invitational Tournament will feature season three champion Mickey who has just flown back from RoXXnRoll TWT Masters Event in Dubai, XiT_QueenArrow, SU_Dartempest, T-Vet_Pokerface, Furious Monkey, T-Vet_Battousai, The Night King, and MeTa_Vega.

INTRODUCTION OF THE KENYA KOMBAT CIRCUIT

Introducing the Mortal Kombat community into the Savanna FGC sought to bring together a group of people that seek to cement themselves as the best in the continent. With a really competitive group, the Kenya Kombat Circuit in its format seeks to grow the community plus position the Kenyan MK11 in the continent.

The Kenya Kombat Circuit will feature notable names in its competition today such as FTG_ArybaStacks, 95_Cole, Mojo_FGC_Joe, De_Marko, SU_Bilal, EKO_etess, RMP_Adam, and FGC_Onyancheez

With efforts of growing Esports and Sports industry in our beloved country, we call upon you to come and support a one of a kind system management that is wholly focused on growing communities in Kenya.

A competitive structure that seeks to grow and develop the FIFA market in Kenya. The series has so far gone through a pilot season this year (January-March) and is in the plans for a launch of its season one series.

The pilot season saw different organizations from different Universities across the Nairobi area meet up for a competition. Six teams registered to take part in the series that were held at the Kenyatta University Students Business and Conference Centre.

The e-Lig University Series comes in and creates a competition that places different University-based FIFA teams to compete, a venture seeking to grow the FIFA market in Kenya, and further establishing Kenya as an Esports market in the wider Eastern African region.

Six Organizations took part in the pilot season that ran in the first quarter of this year. The Organizations that took part are:

• Horizon Organization
• Team Alpha Organization
• Mauwano Organization
• A-Team Organization
• Horsemen Organization
• Elite Organization

The organizations tussled out in two tournaments with each of the four players competing for series points. The series points were arranged such that players from each Organization tussled for points, in the end, they are summed up and totals tabulated to see which Organization had the best players. It increased serious competition amongst the players participating.

The e-Lig University Series will be changing parts of their system to grow the competition, enhance the series for both the spectators and players.

Catch the Horizon Organization lead Collins Oyindo this Friday in a Q and A interview discussing the e-Lig Series Pilot competition, FUT, competition and the future of the e-Lig series.