A local video game contest titled Iran Games Cup 2019 wrapped up in Tehran on August 30 by giving awards to winners.
The closing ceremony coincided with the finalists' tournament in PES 2019, FIFA 2019 and Quiz of Kings.
Organized by Iran Computer and Video Games Foundation, the weeklong competition was held at the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, the event's website Irangamecup.com reported.
A large number of enthusiasts competed in eight video games, namely FIFA 2019, PES 2019, CS GO, DOTA2, Clash Royale, Quiz of Kings, Maghzineh and Mafioso.
The competitions were broadcast live on IGC's website for game lovers who could not attend the event in person.
The closing event was attended by Sadeq Pejman, the head of Iran Computer and Video Games Foundation, Hossein Entezami, the head of Cinema Organization of Iran, Fazel Nazari, IIDCYA's managing director, and Sadeq Doroudgar, an official with Football Federation of Iran.
Award-Winning Gamers
A report has been published on the organizer's website, as well as the winners of each section and their awards.
In FIFA 2019, the most popular section in the competition, Nima Sadeqi and Mostafa Beigi were crowned respectively in PS4 and Xbox platforms and each won a cash prize of 50 million rials ($434).
Among the women's team, Ayda Karimi won the first prize in this section.
Besides the best players, those who were ranked second to fifth were also awarded prizes worth 5-20 million rials ($43-173).
In PES2019 section, Hasan Pajani took over his rivals and won the competition with a 50-million-rial prize ($434). The second and third place winners received 20 and 10 million rials ($173 and $87) respectively.
The Quiz of Kings game section was held in two individual and team categories, in which Shahab Mohtashamian and "Lia" team were declared winners of 200 million rials ($1,739) each respectively.
The second and third best players in both categories also won 100 and 50 million rials ($869 and $434) respectively.
According to data published by Iran’s Digital Games Research Center, the number of Iranian gamers has seen a staggering rise, reaching 28 million by March 2018 compared to 23 million in March 2016
The gamer team "Scenario" defeated its rivals in DOTA2 game followed by "FTW" and "Perise" teams that won the second and third places.
The Scenario team was awarded the opportunity to take part in the upcoming e-Sports World Championship to be held in South Korea in December by the International e-Sports Federation.
The second and third winner team were also awarded 20 and 10 million rials ($173 and $87) respectively.
Maghzineh was the other game section held in two arcade and record modes. Ali Kazemi, Amir Shojaei and Masoud Ebrat-Khahan were the top three winners in the arcade mode. In addition, 10 best performing gamers in record mode were also announced.
The total amount of prize specified for gamers in this section accounted for 50 million rials ($434).
Mafioso, the other game section had also three winners, namely Arash Younespour, Ali Kazemi and Meysam Heidarian, who won prizes ranging from 10-50 million rials ($86-434).
CS GO was the other team game with "For Glory" team winning the first prize of 80 million rials ($695). The second and third winners, namely "Zelzeleh" (earthquake in Persian) and "Rog Arena", were awarded 20 and 10 million rials ($173 and $87) respectively.
In the last section named Clash Royale, Ali Taherlou won the top prize of 50 million rials ($434). The second and third-place winners were also awarded 20 and 10 million rials ($173 and $87) respectively.
Gaming in Iran
The recent game cup is only one of the numerous gaming competitions and events regularly held in Iran. Video games are vastly popular with Iranians.
According to data published by Iran’s Digital Games Research Center, the number of Iranian gamers has seen a staggering rise, reaching 28 million by March 2018 compared to 23 million in March 2016.
Of the total number, a quarter or 7 million are children under 12 years, 35% are women and 24% live in villages across the country.
The figures show the considerable popularity of video games among Iranians. The gamers annually generate 9.2 trillion rials ($80 million) for the expanding game market.
Besides the increasing number of gamers in the country, the domestic video game developing companies have also witnessed a huge growth over recent years.
In addition, Iran has over 150 game development companies, each of which employ 8 to 12 people while bigger enterprises have 30 employees on average.
