The competitive community for Ready At Dawn’s Echo Arena has grown significantly in the Oceania region since servers opened there on May 12 in conjunction with the game’s Rift / Quest open beta. Over the past few weeks, Oceania players have established a community network in Discord and they’re hosting an Echo Arena OCE Cup on July 11 for players from OCE, Southeast Asia, and Japan.
Teams of four will compete against each other in the immersive zero-gravity environment in one of the most popular VR esports on the market. Echo Arena was originally released in July 2017 and the community has expanded rapidly since its port to the Oculus Quest, an affordable stand-alone headset perfect for VR gaming.
“With most of the OCE Community being fairly new to the game,” states TheRealZeroz, an OCE admin and tournament coordinator, “We were excited to create an opportunity for players to experience Echo VR in a competitive sense, creating enjoyable experiences for our players and further promoting our small but growing community.”
Format
VR esports are gaining popularity, but the numbers are still minimal compared to traditional esports. In an attempt to keep events like the OCE Cup competitive, yet fun and fair to newer players, tournament admins announced that they would split experienced high level teams if necessary to ensure more equitable and enjoyable competition for all. Admins have already consulted a few select teams this would apply to and they’ve agreed to these conditions. Tournament format includes:
- 4 v 4
- 3 rounds
- $100 AUD prize pool to be split among the winning team.
Schedule
Individuals can register now on the Smash.gg OCE Cup event page and team assignment will take place on June 27. Sign-ups close on July 5.
- June 27: Admins assign teams
- July 5: Sign ups close
- July 11: Tournament
- July 12: Extra day for competition if necessary
Where to Watch
From the first days of the Oculus-sponsored and ESL-run VR League, there have been professional casters involved in the coverage of VR esports. The OCE inaugural event will be cast by René Buttler, a 32-year-old from Germany who did his first television show as a caster in 2005. Since then he has casted or hosted major esports championships such as the Forza Racing Championship, Rainbox Six Pro League, and others. In addition to traditional esports, he has covered VR esports for the VR League. Buttler is available through his Twitter and Facebook. He’ll cast the matches on his Twitch channel – GRunnerTV.
Watch the OCT Cup on GRunnerTV at noon AEST on July 11.
Echo Community
If you’d like to learn more, join the Echo Games Discord, check out the social media sites, and of course stay tuned to VR Fitness Insider for continued news about VR esports.
- Facebook – Community Group
- OCE Echo VR Discord Invite
- Echo Games Discord Invite
