TNC, one of the fast-growing cyber cafés in the country, opens Saturday, March 7, the largest Acer Predator-equipped cyber cafe in Southeast Asia.
Located on Colon Street, Cebu City, the TNC Cyber Cafe HQ is a three-level esports hub that houses a total of 408 Acer Predator units which include Orion 3000 and 5000.
This high-end esports facility caters to both non-professional and professional or hardcore gamers in Cebu. It boasts of a high-end gaming set-ups, high-speed internet and powerful Acer Predator personal computers (PC).
Of the total PC units, 108 units of Orion 5000 are ready for use at the VIP floor of the cafe. Predator is the premium gaming brand of Acer.
“With the continuous support of Acer Predator, we wanted to give the best gaming experience to the Queen City of the South. We hope that with this facility, we can encourage Cebuanos to dive in more to esports and hopefully, develop more world-class talents,” said Eric Redulfin, TNC’s founder and chief executive officer.
He said the cyber cafe was intentionally designed to support and hone the esports skills of Cebuanos and its growing gaming community.
Esports is one of the new crops of sports in this decade. In fact, the Philippines has been issuing professional licenses for players. Esports was also part of the 30th Southeast Asian Games. Along with this growth is the increasing number of individuals getting into the sport making it even more competitive than before.
Like any other sport, esports athletes need to constantly practice to elevate their skills. With the opening of the biggest esports hub in Southeast Asia in Cebu, Redulfin looks forward to seeing more Filipinos, particularly Cebuanos to join global esports tournaments.
“We will be mounting series of tournaments here,” he said.
TNC, formerly TheNet.Com Internet Café, committed another three years of partnership with Acer Predator as the official hardware provider for its future gaming cafes.
There are over 100 TNC Cyber Cafe branches in the country equipped with Predator gaming laptops and PCs.
Esports course
Seeing the big potential of this niche industry, a report said the Lyceum of the Philippines University and esports and gaming agency Tier One Entertainment collaborated to develop the curriculum of the four-year degree on Bachelor of Science in ESports. It will be offered this coming school year once approved by the Commission on Higher Education.
“The goal has always been to create more opportunities for gamers in Asia. If this curriculum gets approved, we won’t just be providing post career opportunities for gaming, but we will have a new generation of graduates ready to work in the esports industry,” said Tier One Entertainment chief executive officer Tryke Gutierrez in an online post. (KOC)