Tekken254 Circuit set to adopt a new competitive format for its 2020 schedule.

After a wild 2019 schedule, the Tekken254 Circuit will move into the 2020 schedule with a new competition system that seeks to grow the local competitive Fighting Game Community scene in Kenya.

Running for three seasons currently, the Circuit has seen immense growth in its player growth, competitive gameplay and as well as a rise of Esports organizations feeding into the circuit signing players (Article on Esports Organization-4th September). The Circuit has seen various changes that the organizers have made to help steer the local competitive scene forward and also make it easy for players to grow. The circuit moves into its fourth season in January 2020 and is set to have various changes.

TEKKEN254 CIRCUIT 2020 (UNIFICATION OF DIVISIONS)

The 2020 schedule will still be eight months series with qualifiers played monthly. The circuit major change will be the unification of both divisions (Premier Division & Challenger Division).

Season three saw a separation of vet players locked down to a premier division and a new division that sought to build and encourage new players to sign up was formed. The challenger division helped drive in 15 players who have played through the whole season and gained enough gameplay knowledge of the game.

Heading into our 2020 schedule, the circuit will have the divisions unified and a bigger player bracket per pool formed. Players will be playing using a bracket format for the 2020 schedule unlike in season three where players played in a round-robin system during pools stage.

Follow @AceProGaming_Ke and @itstekken254 on twitter for more news about the Tekken254 Circuit.

After six qualifiers, it all comes down to the finals this Saturday.

Season Three of the Tekken254 Circuit comes to an end this weekend with the top-ranked 16 players from the Seasons Qualifier. Season Three kicked off in January this year with a new format of play that saw 6 Qualifier tournaments played with participants fighting for the top 16 slots.

After 6 tournaments this year, Michael “Mickey” Muhoro finished at pole position with Nick Fury closing down this year’s finalists finishing at 16th place. The finals will be played in a double-elimination format.

Tekken254 Circuit Finals Fixtures

  • DVK v. RobbyM$
  • MoM|Frost v. T-Vets|Nick Fury
  • SU|DarkTempest v. T-Vets|Poker Face
  • Xstar v. Priest
  • Mickey v. Vega
  • Tony v. Stanley Styler
  • T-Vets|Battousai v. Overhaul|In4red
  • Furious Monkey v. Proto-G

The Tekken254 Finals will be staged at the PSG LAN Party set to be held this coming Saturday at The Junction, Nairobi.

THREE SEASONS IN, STRUCTURED COMPETITION SYSTEM, STRONG COMMUNITY

The Tekken254 Circuit Qualifiers comes to a curtain close as we head towards Qualifier 6 of this season series. Organized by Tekken-Two-Five-Four and Ace Pro Gaming, the circuit has seen a rise in competitors from 19 competitors to the current 32 registered players who have once attended the structured competitive tournaments held in Nairobi.

Started in 2017, we held a tournament in one of Nairobi's most visited Gaming Lounges (Tric Gaming) where we held our very first tournament. The Tekken254 has later grown into one of the most connected and growing communities filled with discipline and hard work amongst its members. The community is slowly cementing competitive system as one of the strongest in the region.

The Circuit was birthed immediately after the Tric Gaming Tournament and it is currently closing on its third season. More players trickling in the community and staying competitive with efforts to welcome more as we continue our work to strengthen Esports and Digital Entertainment in Kenya.
The Circuit adopted a new format that sought to increase community members, increase competition but most importantly level up Tekken knowledge within the community.

The system saw two divisions split between Premier Division (24 players) and Challenger Division (open entry) with a pro-rel system. The tournaments were also spread out monthly with 6 Qualifiers in the circuit. As we move into our final qualifier, we would like to thank the Tekken254 Community members for their bond, hard work, commitment, and great Tekken play.

THANK YOU

THEY CAN, AND PROBABLY WILL TAKE OVER THE CAPE TOWN SHOWDOWN

The Tekken World Tour announced its expansion strategy to newer communities across the globe and the greatest news for Africa was the announcement of the Cape Town Showdown scheduled for September this year.

The tournament will see many African Tekken players converge in South Africa this year for a great eSport event in the region. The Tekken communities in Africa have been vibrant with many local tournaments organized in many parts of Africa.

With this, we want to focus on the Kenyan scene that has been vibrant with a strong community, well-organized tournaments and online presence. The Tekken 254 Circuit is currently in its third season, the season was restructured to have six Qualifiers and one major where 16 of the best 24 (Premier Division) will qualify for the Savanna Majors set for August.  The Circuit planned to get new members by launching a second tier called the Challenger Division which currently has 11 active members. The Circuit, with a Pro-Rel (promotion-relegation) format, will see the bottom four in the Premier Division play against the top four in the Challenger Division for spots in the Premier Division for Season Four.

The Circuit has given the community an avenue to practice and plays in monthly tournaments that have improved gameplay, character knowledge and confidence in tournaments. The community’s online groups have also been an avenue to discuss matchups, character moves, strength and this has improved the gameplay of many players.

Some of the Circuit’s players participated in an Online Cities Battle against players from Durban, South Africa in December 2018. In a first-to-two, five v. five takedown format, the Nairobi team managed to win 5-2 in both rounds.

DVK, AP | Mickey and XiT | QueenArrow have all shown an interest in taking part in this great fighting game event set for September. XiT Woundz, an eSport organization managing Sylvia “QueenArrow” Gathoni, has confirmed her participation. Will the Kenyan representatives manage Top 8 entry? Yes, they will.

Cape Town Showdown 7 will be held at the Radisson Red Cape Town on 7th-8th September this year.

ACE PRO GAMING SET TO LAUNCH AN APPAREL DIVISION.

In a bid to further expand its reach into the Kenyan market, Ace Pro is set to launch an Apparel Division called “Ace Apparels” to steer professionalism in the Esports and wider sports market. The new division signals Ace Pro expansion looking to professionalize and uniform Esports and other sports players in Kenya.

Ace Apparels is set to launch at a later date in the fall of this year targeting Esports (competitive video gamers), Leisure market (Athle-Leisure), sports disciplines and other markets that we will announce later. “The expansion signals a different investment that seeks to create a self-sustaining and self-reliant e-Lig University Series and Tekken254 Circuit,” says Fanuel O. O

The apparel division is looking to tap into the local Kenyan series of tournaments held in the city by dressing various players and professionalizing the industry. Ace Apparels also wants to expand business models for various Esport organizations operating in Kenya.

Ace Pro Gaming will also launch its original content as part of its plans in growing the local industry. More info will be released soon.

THE CHECK | XIT WOUNDZ OWNER CODY.M TAKES US INSIDE THE WORLD OF ESPORTS BUSINESS, EXISTING MARKETS & TEKKEN254

XiT Woundz has operated in Kenya for close to a year now participating in Kenya’s premier FGC series called Tekken254 run and organized by Tekken Two Five Four and Ace Pro Gaming. The circuit currently is on its third season and going into the third qualifier this coming weekend before heading for the April break.

XiT Woundz has expanded its operation globally tapping into various Esports markets. The Esport organization is represented by Catholic University of  Eastern Africa law student Sylvia Gathoni Wahome who goes by the name of QueenArrow.

Ace Pro Gaming connected with XiT Woundz owner Cody M to bring you the interview below:

APG: Tell us a brief history of XiT Woundz Esport Organization

Cody M: Good afternoon Ace Pro Gaming! It is a pleasure to be speaking to everyone here today and I hope everyone is having a wonderful day wherever they are in the world. To begin, XiT Woundz was originally formed as a Halo 2 team at MLG (Major League Gaming) Las Vegas Nevada 2005 by the brothers nicknamed Bonfire and ItWasLuck. The team yielded an incredible presence in both Halo 2 and Halo 3, earning over 40,000 USD in tournament prizing and were a constant Top 8/Top 16 team during their initial reign. Their time as a team came to an end around 2009 with MLG Columbus being their final event. In 2017, I was approached by an old business partner about reforming the brand in the competitive eSports circuit. I was working as an eSports journalist at the time but decided this was an excellent opportunity to build something of my own and continue a legacy.

After discussing terms with ItWasLuck, an agreement was met that continuing the XiT Woundz legacy would indeed come to fruition. In 2018, we kicked off the brand’s re-emergence in January and since then seek to build upon the brand’s legacy and carry the traditions the old team set before us.

APG: XiT Woundz has players from various eSports markets (countries). If you do not mind answering, why expand to these markets?

CM: Excellent question! As most of the audience out there may know, the U.S.A. is the eSports hub and world market. This simply means that most high-end competitive circuits will almost always do business in the United States simply because we have the prime locations and biggest prize pools. Considering how established we are as a country in competitive gaming, this also comes with the territory that we hold the largest eSports organizations market in the world, with multiple organizations being based in various states throughout the country.

Other countries such as Mexico, Baltic Europe, South America and even Africa are just now starting to catch on to the eSports market and infrastructure we have out here in the west. This means that local talent can be found all over the globe. When looking to establish our presence as an organization, we wanted to find markets that would fit our brand’s image and showcase what is possible in the world. After doing about two months of research, I found different African establishments that presented the development of a competitive eSports circuit and gaming culture and from there we found the TEKKEN 254 circuit in Kenya and the rest is history.

I love signing underdog players and talent. It’s important to give players across the world a chance to compete at the highest level. When we found QueenArrow we knew this would be one of the greatest player acquisitions we will ever do, it’s been a wonderful experience.

APG: Does the organization have plans to expand its player base in the current markets you are present in? Do you have plans to expand into different countries (markets)?

CM: XiT Woundz always has plans to expand our operations to other countries. Like any expansion plan however, it all boils down to logistics and cost effectiveness. We currently feature players in USA, Canada, Venezuela, Kenya and Germany and we even had a Dota 2 team in Cambodia last year. To say the organization is everywhere would almost be an understatement. I would like to say we are absolutely looking to head to Europe and Japan as our next major expansion for 2020 but first we need to further establish our presence and build our local market community and that means further establishing our presence in the state of New Jersey as that’s our home turf.

Now, as for what games we are seeking to get invested into, well I’ll let time do the telling when we get there!

APG: Which of the existing markets does the XiT Woundz organization find easy to manage players?

CM: It’s always tough to answer what is the easiest player base to work with. Of course, if it’s based on logistics/traveling then our United States players are the easiest to figure out plans for. However, I would have to say that so far, we have been able to get everyone involved in tournaments on a global scale effectively! And for that I have my amazing staff to thank for.

APG: With the TEKKN 254 Circuit running its third season, what is your brand involvement with Sylvia Wahome like from management point of view?

CM: Sylvia is a diamond in the rough, a true fighter at heart. We are continuing to assess her abilities as a player during her run in the TEKKEN 254 Circuit Season 3 tournaments. What’s awesome is that all our players from Canada and Germany have been able to give her some of the most incredible advice from improving her game step by step, so in this case her training since last year has been almost all Canadian. With the TWT (Tekken World Tour) circuit we would love to see her get a top placing at a serious major; however, everything comes with time and as we move forward, we will continue to help her grow and develop her skills at a higher level so she will be more tournament ready.

APG: With the expansion of the Tekken World Tour, will we see Sylvia take part in the African leg to be staged in Cape Town, South Africa?

CM: We would love to see QueenArrow in South Africa for the TWT event later this year! However, that will be completely up to her, if she feels she is ready.

APG: Still on the TWT Cape Town leg, how best would you love the Tekken World Tour format to be for other existing players who cannot attend the various events in the schedule?

CM: With the introduction of the Dojo series, this gives players an incredible amount of motivation to attend their local weekly series to earn TWT points. The best part is, all the organizers must do is apply online via the website and wait for a response. Outside of the Dojo system, I would love to see an official TWT major in Kenya as I feel they have a city to host it and a solid developing tournament infrastructure to showcase to the world. I can also see countries like Ghana, Vietnam, Denmark and various others get a shot to host a major soon.

I would love to see more countries get the chance to showcase their communities and top players to the entire world! Build the foundation now and bring the TWT to an even greater podium in years to come!

APG: What is your take on the growth of eSports globally?

CM: Esports, or as I still call it, competitive gaming, is a longstanding tradition of gamers across the globe with all nationalities and religions to come together and compete at the highest level possible. In the early years of the 2000s, who would have thought everything would grow to an exponential level that we see today; it’s absolutely mind-boggling to me. However, it still has a lot of problems that need to be corrected; player unions should become a thing for players to feel comfortable in their contracts and have re-assurance that the organizations won’t screw them over as we have seen here in the States an alarming amount of times. With this also being said, the alarming potential factor that many large tournaments may eventually become more monopolized and invitational only is a great concern for the FGC entirely.

It’s hard to say where exactly everything will go for the future, but since entering the industry back in 2004, I can safely forecast what will end up happening and I hope and wish that all players and organizations out there take great care now to prepare themselves for even greater hurdles we have yet to see from a business standpoint. Other than that, however, I think competitive gaming nowadays is a beautiful thing as it truly brings gamers together from all walks of life and for that factor alone, I can be grateful for.

XiT Woundz owner Cody M. continued to thank all eSport players in Kenya, TEKKEN 254, Davy Kamanzi (TEKKEN 254 president) and Pro Series Gaming.

THE CHECK | THE RISE OF ESPORT ORGANIZATIONS IN THE KENYAN COMPETITIVE GAMING SPACE

The Tekken254 Circuit in its third season continues to grow in terms of participation, partnerships and also tournaments. The circuit birthed in 2017 has seen numbers grow from 19 players to a current 36 registered players in the community.  With well-organized tournaments, the circuit is seeing the growth of teams known in the competitive gaming industry as Esport Organization.

AlphaPlay Kenya signed three players in the circuit namely Michael “Mickey’ Muhoro, Anthony “Tony” Claesen and William “Priest” Omondi. The organization continues to tap into the growing industry not only in Kenya but the African region.

Another organization that wrecked news across the community was the signing of Sylvia “Queen Arrow” Wahome by the XiT Woundz based in New Jersey. The organization has players playing in different Esports such as Tekken, Mortal Kombat, and Smash. The organization also spreads its talents across different continents such as North America (Canada & USA), Africa (Kenya), South America (Venezuela), and Europe (France, Poland and Germany).

Esport Organizations in Kenya are helping cement the industry in creating financing models for players that have enabled many enter various tournaments both online and offline, they have also helped professionalize the industry with great apparels, business models, salaries, and purchases of the games (DLCs).

Ace Pro Gaming second tournament dubbed the “e-Lig University FIFA19 Series” is meant to franchise Esport Organizations based on University sides. There are currently 6 Universities (each having 4 players) playing in the e-Lig having four players. The pilot series seeks to grow FIFA which is arguably the biggest game played by many Kenyans both casually and competitively.

The future of the e-Lig is aligning the series with the current growth of the FIFA electronic World Cup that was rebranded from the Interactive last year 2018. The e-Lig also seeks to tap the many students’ communities from various Universities in Kenya. We seek to further tap into newer communities of Varsities sides especially from outside Nairobi expanding the participation.

A huge shout out to all Esports Organizations in Kenya

  • XiT Woundz
  • AlphaPlay Kenya
  • Masters of Mayhem
  • Simba Ultimate
  • Rampage Corps
  • Overhaul

And many more not mentioned. Let us strive to grow the industry and also rightfully support the signed players.

ON THE FOCUS |HORIZON ORGANIZATION MAKE ONE CHANGE AHEAD OF THE e-LIG FIFA19 SERIES WEEKEND TWO.

Horizon Organization, a University of Nairobi based FIFA19 team will go into Weekend Two knowing they have to defend their aggregate win as they did in the first Qualifier. The team currently sits top in the logs with 69 aggregate points. Joel led the team delivering 21 points during the Weekend Opener. Joel fell (5-4) on aggregate against Mount Kenya University Peter “Flossin Mauwano” Mumu during the opening weekend held at Kenyatta University. Horizon Organization manager Collins Oyindo made a change this week replacing Pablo with Elias Beast. The new player will play in Conference A which looks to be the group of death with heavyweight players such as e-Lig Weekend Opener winner and Mount Kenya University player Peter Mumu, Technical University of Kenya Epsilon Malvin, #Mo (Strathmore University), Max Murila from Kenyatta University and WekaMbali from (JKUAT). NEW RIVALRY Mauwano Organization Peter Mumu will open up a new rivalry with University of Nairobi Elias Beast who is considered to be a great player. They met this past weekend at a FIFA19 tournament held at KCB Sports Club where Peter Mumu narrowly won. We look forward to catching this matchup this coming Saturday.

KENYATTA UNIVERSITY TO HOST WEEKEND TWO OF THE e-LIG FIFA19 UNIVERSITY SERIES.

Kenyatta University will once again host the e-Lig series weekend two scheduled for 2nd March. The prestigious institution also plays host to one of the six organizations playing in the series called Horsemen Organization.

Horsemen Organization will again be playing to their home crowd this weekend and they hope they will perform better than the weekend opener. Horsemen Organizations sit bottom of the log with 22 points. Jumia Gaming tournament winner Phillip “Yardie” Kimani leads the organization with 4-3 Win-Loss record followed by Winchester (2-1-4), Max Murila (1-0-6) and Bruno “GrimReeper” Sorre (2-5). The home team will have to improve going into weekend two as other organizations seek to dominate this coming weekend.

Follow the table for full rankings:

Kenyatta University with a vibrant FIFA community playing both online and at various gaming lounges in its environs such as Kahawa Sukari, Kahawa Wendani offers a unique spot for FIFA competitions. The huge population also plays a big role in the series by attracting spectators for this great series.

Kenyatta University Business & Students’ Service where the competitions will be held has a sitting capacity of up to 250 people giving it a fabulous location for the event. The centre also offers great amenities such as eating spaces, restaurants banks and conference halls for students and visitors to access. We welcome you all to come to enjoy great music from Homeboyz Esports and fabulous University rivalry competition.

e-LIG University FIFA19 Series

March 2nd 2019 Kenyatta University Business & Students’ Service Centre 014

On the Focus | We take a look into the future of the e-Lig Series

The e-Lig University Series kicked off on the 29th of January in a three-legged series for its pilot season zero. The event was held at Kenyatta University Business & Service Centre that saw 24 participants enter for the Open series while only 6 entered for the All-Women division.

The e-Lig University series was birthed to help grow competitive side of FIFA in Kenya most especially in Universities which holds up to 90% of competitors in most of the events held in Kenya. The pilot season was to introduce the competition and showcase what Ace Pro has in store for the future as Esports continues to grow globally. The FIFA competitive global market is steadily growing with many licensed qualifying events held globally especially in U.K, Australia and the United States attracting millions of competitors.

The FIFA Electronic World Cup has so far since attracted many qualifying events such as electronic Major League Soccer (USA), electronic Premier League (U.K), E-League (U.S.A), E-League (Hyundai A-League Australia), GFinity FIFA Series and many more of LQE (Licensed Qualifying Events).

The e-Lig University series seeks to encourage more competitive Kenyan FIFA Players to compete highly in franchises based on University institutions. The series pilot season showcased the future of the competition set to come.

FUT MODE

The e-Lig University series will see FUT Mode being used for its season one set to commence in September this year. Players are encouraged to get well versed with the mode and build in their squads for the season to come. All international events use the FUT Mode and positioning the e-Lig University series for international events will need the series to go into the use of FUT Mode.

PARTICIPATION

The e-Lig series currently has 6 franchises from 6 Universities that registered to take part in the competition for its pilot season. Each Institution sent 5 players totalling to 24 participants for the Open series and 6 participants for the All-Female series. The next season will see a reduction of players but an increase of institution taking part in the series. We plan to increase the number of participating institutions to tap into newer markets of competitive FIFA playing communities.

The e-Lig University series moves into its week two with Peter Mumu holding top position and Kevin Omondi coming in second. Here is a full table after the weekend opener.