29th June, 2012
As Video Game lovers storm Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Ibadan for the first ever tournament in Nigeria, Ibukunoluwa Olapade, the Chief Executive Officer of 90 Degrees, the platform organising the tournament, tells Simon Ateba in this interview, that there are more than a million Video Gamers in Nigeria yearning to outplay each other
What’s the competition all about?
The ‘90Degrees Africa’ Ultimate PlayStation Soccer Competition is all about bringing together all the video game players across the country to compete in a tournament and get paid for it. We’ve had all kinds of competitions across the country on PlayStation Soccer, but this is a unique competition that brings together all the soccer players of gaming. From PlayStation 2 Pro Evolution Soccer 2012, PlayStation 3 Pro-Evolution Soccer 2012 and PlayStation 3 FIFA EA Sport 2012. These are the major games played by soccer video game lovers in Nigeria and the world over. What this competition is going to do is to bring all the soccer video game lovers and players into the ’90 Degrees Africa’ video game community and make them have the feeling that they can make a fortune from playing video games. In a nutshell, 90 Degrees Africa is a platform that brings together video gamers to compete, have fun and get paid for doing that. And as I mentioned, the tournament consists of three categories namely; the PlayStation 2 Pro Evolution Soccer 2012, PlayStation 3 Pro-Evolution Soccer 2012 and PlayStation 3 FIFA EA Sport 2012.
What’s the itinenary of the competition?
The competition is kicking off in Lagos on 11 August, 2012 at 90 Degrees Africa Video Gaming Centre 1st floor e-centre/Ozone Cinemas (1-11 Commercial Avenue, Sabo Yaba, Lagos) and it’s going to be held every Saturday and Sunday. The competition is going to hold in four states in Nigeria namely; Lagos, Ibadan, Port Harcourt and Abuja. Once we are done with Lagos, we are moving to Ibadan in Oyo State. Then we will move to Abuja because there are many video gamers there. We will then go to Port Harcourt, where things really happen for video gamers. From Port Harcourt, we will return to Lagos for the grand finale. But I must emphasise that the competition is not restricted to people from only those four states. We can have people from other states but they will have to join us in the four states I mentioned above. People from Ogun State can join us in Lagos, while those from Osun or Ekiti can join us in Ibadan and those from Enugu and Anambra States can join us in Port Harcourt.
What does it take to participate?
The competition is opened to male contestants only, from 16 years and above. All the contestants below that age would need parental consent to participate and every contestant will also need to be registered before 31 July, 2012. Each contestant will also pay N5,000 participation fee. The details are on our website www.90degreesafrica.com (register).
What is the interest like among Nigerians?
People are very in interested in video gaming, especially PlayStation soccer gaming. Every corner you visit in Lagos, you find someone playing a Play station Soccer game or holding a PlayStation pad. We estimate that more than a million Nigerians play video games. But there have never been a platform for all of them to come together, compete and have the kind of fun we are planning with this competition.
How do you plan to organise this tourney?
It will take place in stages. Once the contestants assemble, we are going to do the draws in the presence of everybody and the participants will know the group they belong to and from there, they are going to start knocking themselves out until we get to the last person. A game lasts only 10 minutes and if there is a draw, the players play extra-time and penalty, once there’s a winner, he moves to the next round.
How many winners will emerge in each category and how much will be the cash prize?
We will have winners in three categories. In category one, which is the PlayStation 2 Pro Evolution Soccer 2012, there will be three winners. The first winner will get a cash prize of $1000 US dollars. The second prize is an all paid trip to Ghana, while the third prize is N50, 000. In category 2, which is PlayStation 3 Pro Evolution Soccer 2012, there would be three winners with the first winner getting $1,000. An all expense paid trip to Ghana is for the second position, while third position will get N50,000. For the third category, which is PlayStation 3 FIFA EA SPORTS 2012, there would be only one winner who will take home a cash prize of $500. In all, we will have seven winners.
How should we believe that 90 Degrees is not out there to scam people since we have never heard of this competition?
This is not a scam at all. There are more than a million Nigerians who play video games everyday and this is just a platform for them to come together to compete and have fun. 90 Degrees Africa is a Nigerian organisation. We have been established since 2009 and registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission. We are genuine people and I personally run a video gaming centre at the e-centre/Ozone Cinemas in Sabo, Yaba, Lagos. All our contacts and details are on our website. We have all our papers ready. We are not playing with people’s minds. We are real. Anyone can visit our website to read about us and get more information. They can also call in and they will be convinced. This is not the first competition we are doing. We have held three competitions in conjunction with Ozone Cinemas in Yaba. They were local competitions. We did it for World Cup 2010 and we did another one for the UEFA Champions League. In the World Cup, what we did was to get 32 contestants to represent 32 countries and compete and there were cash prizes given out to winners.
What’s the attraction in video games?
It is the fun and the noise. It’s the ability to make decisions on time. It’s the ability to communicate with what you are looking at and what you are controlling at the same time. You know, Nigerians love football and that’s like a replica. It’s just like being a manager, you are the one telling the players what to do and how to do it and when to actually strike.
Who will take care of the accommodation of players who are outside Lagos?
90 Degrees will be responsible only for the finalists. The final will take place for just a day. We are also going to promote all the participants on our website. We are going to have a winner to represent each state. All four finalists will come together to fight for the prize. There will be three winners. One for PS2 and two for PS3.