GESC Singapore, Kuala Lumpur Pro Circuit Minor events indefinitely postponed

The upcoming Global Electronic Sports Championships’ Singapore and Kuala Lumpur tournaments, designated as Valve-sponsored Dota Pro Circuit Minor events, have been indefinitely postponed, according to GESC and multiple other sources.

“Due to factors beyond our control, we deeply regret to inform you that the GESC: Singapore and GESC: Kuala Lumpur Dota 2 Minors will not take place on their originally scheduled dates in January and March 2018,” the organization stated on their website.

The Singapore and Kuala Lumpur events were set to be held January 12-14, 2018 and March 2-4, respectively. Qualifiers were meant to occur in the weeks following DreamHack Denver, including this upcoming week (the week of December 4, 2017).

A source familiar with the matter shared to The Flying Courier that GESC still hopes to hold these events in these areas later this year. They are allegedly communicating with Valve to reschedule, likely for the 2018-19 Pro Circuit season.

The Jakarta and Bangkok events, scheduled March 16-18 and May 11-13, were explicitly declared to not be affected by these changes.

GESC is listed on the official Pro Circuit site, as well as their own business’s site, as having four events in the Southeast Asian region during the 2017-18 Dota Pro Circuit season. In their initial order, these are: Singapore; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Bangkok, Thailand.

All four GESC Dota 2 events are registered as Pro Circuit events with sponsorship by Dota 2 developers Valve. This endorsement provides an extra boost to prize pools of events that provide their own purse. If an event such as GESC’s provides a minimum of $150,000 USD, they can apply to become a Minor, or $500,000 for a Major. If Valve accepts, the gaming company will provide another $150,000, making all Valve-sponsored events worth a minimum of $300,000.

However, it appears that event organizers must work out any other details about the tournament, including sponsors, production, qualifiers and accommodations. Already, a Major event worth $1 million in prize money, meant to be co-produced Beyond The Summit and Next Generation Esports, has fallen through. “The event ended up not making sense” for these organizations, according to BTS co-founder David “LD” Gorman via a Twitlonger.

Based out of Southeast Asia, GESC itself appears to be a new organization, with no events held under the company banner thus far.

At the time of writing, GESC has only released the on-site statement and has not replied to inquiries regarding the situation. A studio designated to cover one regional qualifier declined to comment.