Harold Teo, Free Fire producer on LBFF: "public is looking forward to a face-to-face event"
Battle Royale's world producer talks about LBFF and the Latin American market.
Harold Teo , director of Garena and Free Fire's global producer, during a recent interview with Upcomer, commented on the electronic sports market in Latin America and emphasized Brazil as one of the main markets of the Battle Royale. The director spoke about LBFF's face-to-face return and plans for the future.
According to Harold Teo, Garena is very concerned about the conditions for running a face-to-face tournament in Brazil, as well as in Latin America.
Free Fire in Latin American markets
"In many of the fast-growing markets such as Brazil and Mexico, where Free Fire performs well, gamers are increasingly moving beyond PCs and consoles and moving straight to mobile devices as their preferred gaming platform" , said Teo. "Free Fire was designed with them in mind."
In 2019, in the first Free Fire World Series, in Rio de Janeiro, Corinthians won the title of world champion. Due to the number of players in South America, teams across the region continue to do well in the global Free Fire tournaments.
"The Free Fire esports events are also something that players and fans alike want, and we deliver," said Teo. "We continue to see positive reactions from our electronic sports tournaments hosted around the world and here in Latin America."
In the latest Free Fire World Series 2021 Singapore, three teams from South America competed in the final. Both teams from Brazil, LOUD and Fluxo , finished in the top four; second and fourth, respectively. Mexico's Aze team finished seventh.
Expansion in Latin America
While Battle Royale is gaining traction in South America, Teo said the game's expansion plans are far from complete.
"We are building a global community with Free Fire" he said. "The focus for us now is to continue to improve the game and build even stronger communities around the world... That means continuing to offer sports tournaments for players to compete against each other to be the best."
Brazilian League of Free Fire (LBFF) and the return of attendance
In Brazil, one of the most popular sports competitions, the LBFF division, resumed in June. The fourth season of the LBFF final peaked at over 1.14 million simultaneous viewers. This represents a 94% increase over the audience of the LBFF 1 finals. For the rest of Latin America, the Free Fire League has reached more than 1 million simultaneous viewers for two consecutive final editions.
Due to changes in live events due to COVID-19, official tournaments have not yet taken place in person.
" We keep thinking of different ways to improve the product, and the public is eager to witness a face-to-face tournament " said Teo. "However, we need to ensure that the conditions are right before hosting an offline tournament in the region."
Although this sport is relatively new and growing, its popularity is growing rapidly. Teo said he hopes to see the game reach levels similar to other major sports.
"Players are attracted to Free Fire because we've built and continue to build strong communities wherever our players are, through grassroots events and engaging local influencers, among other things," said Teo.
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