While a decade and a half ago, tournaments were organized in the neighboring countries in the video game "Counter Strike", which then conquered the planet, and local teams participated in world events, in Montenegro there was nothing even close to that.
Seven years ago, a group of young enthusiasts founded the Union of Electronic Sports of Montenegro and in a small room in Dalmatinska street in Podgorica, started organizing the first video game tournaments, and today they have produced players from this area who are recognized on a global level. and the tournament in the game "Counter Strike: GO", the largest that has ever been organized on the ex Yu area, is currently underway.
Kodio Adria Gaming Tour started on November 21, and as many as 155 teams registered, which is a record when it comes to regional tournaments. The first two stages of the tournament are over, the 16 best teams are in the final competition, which will last until December 16, and everyone interested can follow the competition live every day from 18 pm to midnight on the Association's YouTube and Twitch channel, with two of their commentators.
Filip Šoć told "Vijesti" in front of the Association of Electronic Sports that he was positively surprised by the turnout, and that almost all the best teams from around the region participated in this tournament, and players from Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Croatia, Kosovo and North of Macedonia, next to Montenegro
"We have the Gamers team, which finished in second place at the last international tournament organized by E-Sub, the deepfears team, which is also one of the best in the area, and there is also the best Montenegrin team Perspektiva. The prize fund amounts to one thousand euros, 500 euros for the champions, 200 for the second place, 100 for the best matches, and we give 50 euros twice to the viewers who visit our channels the most. As many as 28 teams registered for the tournament, all of whose players are from Montenegro, and seven of them with a mixed composition where there are our players, and I think this is a great result for our country", pointed out Šoć.
He said that such events are important for Montenegrin players because they can see their real strength and potential compared to players from other countries.
"We have three or four solid players who with more training could become serious world players, one guy who plays for the Gamers team has 4000 points on the Faceit platform and is considered one of the top players, and Pavle Bošković is the best possible ambassador of Montenegro in gaming to the world. He is now among the top 10 players in the world, and I am sure that he will soon be the best," said Šoć.
He explained that Kodio Adria is the first tournament of this type organized by SES CG, and it is planned to hold similar events in the future for computer video games such as LoL, Dota, Fortnight and WarZone, console PES, FIFA and NBA and mobile Clash Royale and Brawl Stars.
"We are working on developing gaming in the entire region, we are currently negotiating with other federations about the formation of a regional federation, so that in all games they can create something similar to the ABA league so that players can gain experience and knowledge and form teams with players from other countries in the region, which will open up a chance for them to participate more seriously in world events", revealed Šoć.
That's why, he points out, matchups with players from other countries are important, although not everyone was enthusiastic at first.
"Our people are a bit specific, they all want to compete at the level of Montenegro and to be the best in Montenegro. We had a problem with the PES tournament when we first organized it, so we brought people from the region to play, few people recognized the potential of it then. Guys from Serbia, BiH who played professional PES came, they got our guys and everyone was angry why we bring them to take prizes. But there we saw where we are, and a year after that we qualified for the European Championship and now I am sure that we have one of the 10 best PES players in the world", points out Šoć.
Šoć is convinced that the semi-final and final matches of the Counter Strike tournament will be spectacular, and he also revealed that they are in negotiations to show those matches on television. The impressions of the competitors are more than positive, even those who participated in tournaments with larger prize funds, and Šoć points out that it is not easy to organize an event like this, where participation is free and over a thousand competitors take part.
"This is not an easy project, about 40 people are working on it, five to ten people are constantly active to make the tournament work. In the evenings when the streaming goes on, for example, we have five or six people in production, two commentators, one who does graphic design and pulls out clips during the matches, the third one who monitors it and provides some kind of first aid", he explains.
That SES CG is doing a good job is also shown by the fact that it was accepted into the world gaming federations IESF (International E-Sport Federation) and GEF (Global E-Sport Federation).
The Montenegrin Federation will work at full steam in the coming period. After Counter Strike, they will organize a PES tournament under GEF at the end of December, and the prize will be a Sony 5 console that has not yet been released, but should appear on our market in March or April.
After the New Year, the organization of tournaments in other games will follow, which the Alliance predicts will be perhaps even more massive than this one in Counter Strike.
You can make a living from gaming
Looking back and comparing today with the first days of the Alliance, Šoć says that the level of seriousness of gaming in Montenegro has increased by a thousand times.
"In 2013, we started this project from a room in Dalmatinska street, then the first Dota league started, with 20 or so registered teams, three of us guys full of energy and I thought that no one would ever organize anything like that. That's where we started, with two computers, and today we have the entire production behind us, over 100 organized tournaments, leagues in different games, cooperation with various media and institutions in Montenegro, events in shopping centers, colleges, I don't know how many thousands of competitors have passed through our tournaments. In the first years, we paid for the prizes out of our own pockets, then after a few years, the first sponsors appeared, and companies that wanted to cooperate", says Šoć.
He says that people in Montenegro have finally realized that gaming is not just about playing video games, and that there are various engagements where you can earn money.
"You can be a good YouTuber or Twitcher like Lobanjica with us, where you can earn good money, a top Counter player like Pavle Bošković, you can be a good commentator, those who comment on international tournaments earn tens of thousands of euros, you can to make games, you can be a good designer to make skins for games... The gaming industry offers a lot, this is the future and I'm sure it will soon become an official sport that we will see at the Olympic Games from 2028", he is convinced .
PES suits Montenegrins the best
When asked what Montenegrins are the best at, which video game suits them best, Šoć without much thought fires - PES. Considering how much football is loved in our country, it is no wonder that the best football simulation in the world of games is the favorite choice of many, and the recent successes of Montenegrin players have also contributed to its popularity.
"The game that suits Montenegrins the best, where we are the best, in the top four national teams in Europe, is PES. Our players have now won 38 matches out of 40 in the championship, now the expansion of PES has started, people are hooked, we have close to 100 active players who play online every day, we have a national team 11 on 11, three on three, two on two, where we are at the very top of Europe. Clash Royale is also very popular, we have two players who are in the top 100 in the world, we have the Global Empire clan which was in the top 20 clans in the world. Those are the two games where we really stand out. We have good Dota and Lol players and these tournaments are a good way to recognize who is a good player and push them to play with opponents from other countries and see how much practice they still need to be at the world level. I hope that Montenegro will become in the near future the center of European gaming events, why not, as well as a tourist hit destination", said Šoć.
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