HONG KONG -- The 2019 E-Sports & Music Festival Hong Kong wrapped up three days of esports competition, cosplay competition to musical performances Sunday.

Held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre and organized by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, the third annual gathering of gaming fans in Asia kicked off Friday with thousands of fans flocking to the scene.

Game on

One look at the entrance of the event was enough to see that this was a special occasion. Brightly colored wigs and fancy costumes were everywhere, as scores of fans dressed up as their favorite characters.

Upon entering the event hall, mobile game party zone welcomed the visitors, with a fierce competition of “Clash Royale” going on. It was part of the EMF’s experience zone, a new feature this year, with other content like “Garena Speed Drifters,” “Arena of Valor” providing the battle ground for the handheld competition.

While state-of-the-art racing games here definitely caught the eyes, “Street Fighter II” “The King of Fighters” and other arcade games offered a touch of nostalgia in the retro fighting game zone where the participants could compete for prizes.

One of the booths had a drone racing zone, where participants put on virtual reality headsets as they piloted the drones through a complex obstacle course.

Top fighting gamers were featured at the zone, including former “Street Fighter” champion Xian having a 6 vs.1 star match.


Competition and themed nights

But the main event was the four e-sports tournaments.

Hosted by riot Games, the 2019 League of Legends International College Cup featured 12 college teams from around the world. JiMei University finished first to take home $8,000, while Maryville University and Toko University came in next. 

The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive World Invitational pitted the two professional teams with FURIA Esports besting AVANGAR for the prize of 500,000 Hong Kong dollars ($64,000).

Player Unknown’s Battleground Mobile Hong Kong Tournament had winning teams from online qualifiers fighting for a prize pool of HK$80,000, while winners from Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhongshan and Hong Kong fought for the same amount in the “Honor of Kings” Official City Tournament.

While competitive gamers fought on, the cosplayers of Hong Kong had a field day, as the ACG & e-Sports Cosplay Competition 2019 ran from 8-10 p.m. on Friday.

It was followed by an EDM party the next day, featuring musician Gary of Leessang and DJ Spray from Korea, along with DJ King and JW from Hong Kong. The final night had musical performances by local bands in Hong Kong: Dear Jane, Supper Moment, Mirror and Nowhere Boys.


By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)