Acer takes SA esports team to Commonwealth

Acer Africa has announced it is sponsoring South Africa’s ATK Rocket League team at the first Commonwealth Esports Championships, taking place in Birmingham, England, on 6 and 7 August. 

As well as covering the gamers’ flights, accommodation and living expenses, Acer will support each team member with Acer Nitro monitors and Predator Helios 300 notebook computers during their visit to Birmingham.

“When esports organisation ATK approached us to help the ATK Rocket League team in their mission to compete on a global stage at the Commonwealth Esports Championships, we simply had to get involved,”  says Glenn du Toit, country manager of Acer Africa. “Because we’re dedicated to developing cutting-edge gaming hardware, getting these talented gamers to Birmingham seemed like a natural extension of our existing vision to take esports to the next level in South Africa.”

Supported by the Commonwealth Games Federation, the Commonwealth Esports Championships is a highly anticipated international event on the gaming community’s calendar. The Championships will bring together national Rocket League, eFootball and DOTA 2 teams from across the Commonwealth.

The ATK Rocket League team qualified for the Commonwealth Esports Championships with a convincing win on 18 June 2022 as part of the African regional qualifier round. Rocket League is a popular arcade-style game where players use various vehicles to play football. Team members Umer Majiet (aka Arceon), Schalk Geldenhuys (aka SchalkG) and Umar Rasool (aka Werty) will go head-to-head with the world’s best esports players on Saturday in Birmingham.

Earlier this year, Acer partnered with the Curro School Group to help them grow esports into a comprehensive, fully coordinated extra-curricular activity and, in some cases, as part of the curriculum.

 Du Toit says: “We’ve long understood that esports develops teamwork, communication, and strategic thinking together with combating loneliness. It also creates opportunities for players to participate in a team environment in a similar way to traditional sport. Games like Minecraft are teaching our kids how to code, use their entrepreneurial skills and even design buildings and cities ─ while they play.”

Acer also partnered with Intel to be the headline sponsor of the largest global esports event for women, Girl Gamer, hosted in Cape Town in June.

For more information visit:commonwealthesports.