Dubai: The winners of a mobile gaming contest in Dubai are crying foul after their prize money cheques bounced because of insufficient funds.
As many as 12 teams from across the GCC pitched in with Dh1,000 each to register for the Mobile Legends Bang Bang tournament organised by Tentacle Gaming between March and June this year.
After an intense multiplayer online battle, Dubai’s Fratres Ad Vitam emerged champion of the Tentacle League.
Team Double Damage led by Jedrek De Guzman Jovellanos came second while John Joseph Zapanta’s team, Viper, had to remain content with the third spot.
Last month, the Esport winners were called to Deira City Centre where the championship organisers handed them post-dated cheques worth Dh25,000. This included Dh12,000 to the title winner, Dh7,000 to first runners-up, Dh3,000 to the team which came third and three consolation prizes of Dh1,000 each.
The joy of winners, however, turned out to be short-lived. As it turned out, all their prize money cheques bounced because of insufficient funds.
“We are shocked. This is not how you treat winners,” said Filipino Paulo Hicban who led team Fratres Ad Vitam. “We don’t know what to do because the authorised signatory of the cheque has flown out of the UAE,” said Hichban.
John Joseph Zapanta who represented Team Double Damage said they are weighing legal action against the tournament organisers. “We toiled for four months for nothing,” he said.
Calls made by Gulf News to the organisers of Tentacle League remained unanswered. At the start of the tournament, Tentacle Gaming had claimed that the competition was aimed at scouting for skilled players who could be groomed to represent their country in international events. “ We will train, manage, guide and fully sponsor them as real E-Sports athletes,” a co-founder of Tentacle Gaming was quoted as saying in a report.
What is Mobile Legends: Bang Bang?
Developed by Shanghai Moonton Technology, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) mobile game is played by over 200 million players world-wide. The game is extremely popular in Southeast Asia and will be a medal event at the 2019 Southeast Asian Game
