A familiar personality from the local and international esports scene will be among the voices of the upcoming Collegiate Center for Esports (CCE).
Caisam Nopueto, better known as 'Wolf', will be one of the three shoutcasters for the breakthrough CCE, a campus-based esports league which streams on CALM Network with Rebel Sports and Bio-Agrownica as sponsors.
From the professional ranks, the renowned caster is taking his act to the collegiate roots with a strong belief in its potential as the future of the Philippine esports industry.
According to the 28-year-old, CCE could serve as the needed bridge that would connect the Filipino gaming aspirants to their goals of making it to the pros like the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League-Philippines (MPL-PH) down the road.
“Esports has always been based from the grassroots level. When DOTA became big, it started from the grassroots, same goes with MLBB. What CCE can offer is the access and spotlight for aspiring ones since we already have established pros,” said Wolf, one of the pioneer MPL-PH casters.
“It’s a perfect avenue because we can also encourage the existing collegiate aspirants and the next batch. Imagine if there’s a school organization that picks them up, trains them, gives them the facilities and the correct upbringing, they will be more motivated.
“It will help the existing pro players already but at the same time it also invites the young ones to aim for this.”
Wolf certainly knows his way around the Esports scene as he witnessed growth and the boom of Esports since he was an Engineering student in Mapua.
Like every aspirant, he was once an avid gamer before unexpectedly being part of the casting industry. He’s been an analyst for MPL-PH since its inaugural season in 2018 before making it to the world stage as part of the prestigious M2 World Championships international broadcast team.
“This (Esports boom) was a dream. What we did not foresee is the speed of its growth. It has been massive starting in 2019, then now 2020 in time of the pandemic. This is a dream come true,” he added.
As they say, Rome was not built in a day and so does the meteoric rise of Esports. And with the campus-based league now in the picture courtesy of CCE, Wolf can’t wait for what’s in store for the sport.
“Imagine what we have done in five years and imagine what can happen in five years,” added Wolf, who will be joined by Shin Boo Ponferrada and Santie Magcalas as CCE casters.
The troika have already started casting for CCE, which ushered in the MLBB: 1-on-1 Exhibition Matches as a prelude to the 5-on-5 Varsity Cup in October. The Varsity cup features prominent basketball players from 10 established colleges and universities in Metro Manila, namely Arellano University, Colegio de San Juan de Letran, De La Salle - College of St. Benilde, Emilio Aguinaldo College, Jose Rizal University, Lyceum of the Philippines University, San Beda University, San Sebastian College - Recoletos, University of Perpetual Help System DALTA, and Wolf's alma mater Mapua University.
An official regular season with aspiring Esports players on board will then follow suit.