EMG Festival and Global Esports Tour show true potential of Dubai events

It was a two-day extravaganza that showcased Dubai’s readiness to host world-class esports events under one roof. Themed hotel rooms, arenas equipped with the best technology and seamless to-and-fro switch over of teams wanting to play physically were the highlights of Global Esports Tour, a USD 250,000 CS: GO tournament that was held over the weekend at the Dubai World Trade Centre as part of EMG Festival 2022.

Some of the top invitees included European behemoths MOUZ, Ninjas In Pyjamas and OG among others. Complexity Gaming made up for representation from North America. Other teams included Movistar Riders, Falcons and TYLOO. In terms of rankings, NiP were easily the most formidable and lifted the trophy in the end.

Showcasing esports hospitality

EMG Festival was a well put event altogether. Even though attendance numbers were not as high, the event was seamless in organization and structure. Everything from video games to anime, cosplay and concerts was featured. Even a small esports business networking event was held.

In addition to the tournament, the carnival-like setting added to making the event hugely successful. There were video game competitions across several venues, for games including League of Legends, Valorant, Call of Duty, Fortnite, Fifa, Tekken 7 and a plethora of virtual reality games. In addition to the games, there was entertainment in the form of Japanese pianist Animez and Japanese singer Akeboshi, who performed as part of the meet-and-greet with the star players. Other influencers who graced the occasion included MSDossary, Ahmed Ben Chaibah, TM Faisal, Bo3omar, SirSAN, Mark Tube, Kakashi Gaming and Hope Rima.

A very condensed schedule akin to DreamHack and festivals of old meant everything was happening fast. Dubai and the rest of UAE moving their weekend from Friday-Saturday to Saturday-Sunday is said to be among the contributing factors. This also meant, given the limited window, the CS:GO and other tournaments didn’t feature a group stage; only a single-elimination brackets. Fans who wanted to watch the action live were allowed to purchase their tickets online or at the venue. The response, as per the organisers, exceeded their expectation with healthy but not abundant attendances on both days.

NiP are crowned GET Dubai 2022 Champions

Four out of the seven games, including the final, were fought tooth and nail and went into the third game. NiP, who overcame OG by a 2-0 margin in what was a rare one-sided fare, emerged champions when they beat MOUZ in a thriller.

MOUZ had gotten there after a crushing win over Movistar Riders. The finale promised a lot of entertainment and fans and organisers went home smiling, for they had everything they asked for – a closet finish, great response, excellent online viewership and words of appreciation from the sponsors and event organisers. NiP advanced to the grand final despite being short-handed due to covid-19. Leader Hampus “hampus” Poser was battling an illness that also kept him out of IEM Dallas.

The games were all streamed on EMG’s official Twitch and YouTube channels.

We can only hope the EMG Festival in 2023 gets bigger, better and with a much larger audience. In terms of organization, it was a flawless showcase of what the true potential of this festival is. Now with one successful fest under their belt, more teams and competitions can potentially become adjacent in the future.