Alibaba Sports, a subsidiary of China’s tech giant Alibaba, and Hong Kong’s Esports International Group (EIG) announced on Monday that the Asia Pacific Final of the 2019-20 World Electronic Sports Games (WESG) would be held in Malaysia.

Taking place next year from January 3 to 5 at the Sunway Pyramid Convention Centre, Petaling Jaya, the international esports tournament would see a total of 61 teams and 260 players from 58 countries compete in Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) StarCraft II and Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) for a share of US$300,000 prize pool.

The qualified players and teams also stand a chance to advance to the WESG Grand Final taking place in Chongqing, China, in March 2020.



"Not only are we bringing back the APAC Final this year, it is the first time that we are hosting this event outside of China, and that is a huge milestone for us.

"The incredible support from all of our partners made it possible to choose Malaysia as our host country," said Alibaba Sports' Jason Fung.

Chris Leung, EIG's project director, added: "The esports industry in Malaysia is growing rapidly and we are glad to see tremendous support from various industry players for the WESG 2019-2020 Asia Pacific Final.

"We hope that through this event, we can bring a new level of esports competition to Malaysia and help further showcase the development of esports potential to the world."

As an official partner, Astro would broadcast the APAC Final live on eGG Network (CH800).

"We are glad to bring yet another international esports tournament to Malaysia thanks to this partnership with Alibaba Sports and EIG.

"WESG is another big milestone for eGG Network and the esports industry as we work towards making Malaysia an esports hub in Southeast Asia.

"This three-day event is something all gamers and esports fans should look forward to, as this is an opportunity to be in the same room and watch some of the biggest teams and names of CS:GO, StarCraft II, PES and of course Dota 2," said Lee Choong Khay, Astro's chief of sports.

Tickets for the event can be purchased here.