SCOGA held its inaugural E-Sports Seminar at Infocomm Experience Centre on 21 January 2012 with the Infocomm Development Authority’s (IDA) venue sponsorship. The purpose of the seminar was to improve communications and gather feedback from community leaders and stakeholders. The highlight of the day was the announcement of the Gamer Assistance Program (GAP), a SGD 20,000 fund dedicated to helping Singaporean gamers pursue their ambitions for international recognition and excellence. SCOGA contributed SGD 10,000 and Sphere Exhibits Pte Ltd, a fully-owned subsidiary of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), matched SCOGA’s contribution dollar-for-dollar. SCOGA aims to continue to grow the fund over time. Details regarding applications, selection criteria, disbursement and obligations are being discussed with community leaders and stakeholders and is expected to be ready by end of Q1 2012.

Since its inception in 2008 by a group of veteran gamers, SCOGA has helped gamers fly overseas 44 times, held more than 50 public gaming events and reached over a million people in its efforts to serve gamers in Singapore. Key accomplishments over that time include SG Champs, Singapore GameFEST, Road to EVO and the soon to-be-launched eSports TV which will showcase the best of Singapore’s competitive gaming scene. eSports TV will be broadcasted from a custom-built studio for gamers, and is expected to be launched by March 2012.

For all parties interested in the fund and for more information, please email info@scoga.org.