TGS Announces Pinnacle, Canada’s First Live Esports Event, October 8-10
TGS Esports Inc. is pleased to announce its grand re-opening for live events, starting with Pinnacle–Canada’s first post-pandemic live esports event–hosted at the world-class Vancouver Convention Center. The event will run for three days, offer a $20,000 prize pool, and expects to draw 2000+ attendees from across North America.
Pinnacle, which TGS first launched in 2018, is one of Canada’s largest and most renowned esports events. This year’s event builds on the success of previous Pinnacle events and will benefit from key acquisitions TGS has made including:
- New fighting game events hosted by Even Matchup Gaming
- Scholastic and collegiate events hosted by Volcanic
- Meet and greet with pro players organized by Discover
- A more immersive tournament experience powered by Pepper
Pinnacle will feature tournaments of popular games such as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Melee, Street Fighter V, Guilty Gear Strive, Tekken 7, and many more. The event will also include vendor booths, artist exhibitions, and a scholastic esports zone where local high schools and universities will showcase their esports programs, with more announcements to follow.
Pinnacle will also feature a partnership with Empire Boxing Promotions as they host their next pro event, Reloaded, live on Saturday, October 9 during Pinnacle. The card will showcase professional boxers from across Canada and the USA with more details to be shared soon.
“With live esports events coming back into the fold we are excited for what TGS has in store for 2022.” Spiro Khouri, CEO of TGS. “EMG just completed another super successful GOML and announced massive events for New York and Toronto. We are planning on taking EMG to new markets as well and can’t wait to share more details as we continue to build out our 2022 live event schedule.”
“This is an exciting time for British Columbia’s events sector and our venue, with events like Pinnacle 2021 bringing back those greatly-missed opportunities to connect passionate communities together once again,” said Craig Lehto, General Manager, Vancouver Convention Centre. “Vancouver is home to a community of eager esports fans and world-class talent, and we look forward to welcoming them through our doors safely for what will surely be a thrilling and fun event.”
“Over the last 10 years, esports has grown in popularity with major events drawing international audiences. We see esports as part of the rebuild of our visitor economy in bringing visitors back to Vancouver and supporting tourism and hospitality businesses in our region. With restrictions lifting, we are thrilled TGS will be hosting a live, major esports event in October at the Vancouver Convention Centre to get people excited about attending in-person events again. We look forward to welcoming esports enthusiasts to our city.” said Royce Chwin, President & CEO of Destination Vancouver.
In 2018, Pinnacle attracted over 750 visitors and featured pro esports players including Justin Wong. The event was the largest live esports event in BC at the time. Highlights of the event can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fHfipgP3WI&t=2s.
In 2019, Pinnacle attracted over 800 visitors. This event featured a prize pool of $20,000 and was a sell-out. Highlights of the event can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeHXUvHO1kU.
Pinnacle will run from October 8 to 10 2021 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, and will operate in full accordance with British Columbia’s most current public health guidelines. Information regarding tickets and the detailed event schedule can be found here.