Student-athletes take the spotlight as the Estudyante Esports: The National Championships by Dark League Studios (DLS) unfolds Monday, Oct. 14.

With 3,000 students from more than 500 public and private schools across the country on board, the tournament offers four popular games in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB), Valorant, Tekken and League of Legends (LoL). 

The prize pool is a whooping P1.6 million which will be divided among the four titles.

DLS CEO and also co-founder AC Valdenor said the prize money could help the participating students not only to hone their skills in esports, but most importantly support their education.

“We wanted to make sure we can offer tuition fees, school materials,.. to ensure they have a boost when it comes to their studies,” said Valdenor on the tournament's press launch Thursday afternoon, Oct. 10. “The growth of Philippine Esports should start from the students and schools, and that’s through the Estudyante Esports.”

“The mission is to make Esports not only an entertainment platform but a career opportunity for students,” he added.

“The Eports Estudyante national championship seeks to promote fun and healthy competition to find the best talents in the country. It’s an avenue for all student-athletes to compete, forge camaraderie and bring pride to their school,” Esports Estudyante program director Alexander Kibanoff added as he also emphasized the help of DLS chairman and co-founder Bobby Rosales and chief marketing officer Alfrancis Chua.

The National Championships will have four regional qualifiers starting from the month of October until the first part of February.  The top two teams from each leg will barge into the national playoffs — mirroring the national tournaments in traditional sports like basketball and volleyball from the champions of UAAP, NCAA, CESAFI and other leagues. 

All players from Metro Manila, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao will plunge into numerous tests before they fly to Manila and reach the finals set on Feb. 22 and 23.