THERE WAS much fanfare in the Philippine esports community when Call of Duty: Mobile (CODM) was launched in October 2019. Nearly a year since then, Filipino gaming organizations have achieved noteworthy success in the first-person shooter game. Among the country’s top CODM organizations is Tyrant Gaming. In June 2020, Tyrant Gaming was crowned the number one clan across the Southeast Asian (SEA) server for CODM’s Season 4 Ranked Multiplayer. However, behind this spectacular feat is an organization that grew from humble beginnings.

A necessary jumpstart

Founded by cousins Anton Artajo and Paolo Olegario in 2012, Tyrant Gaming was originally a 10-member gaming community that was devoted to the newly-released Call of Duty: Black Ops II (COD: Black Ops II). Originally composed of their family and friends, the group did not intend to be a competitive organization. However, Artajo cited that the release of the new game served as the catalyst for clan formation. “This was the foundation of Tyrant Gaming,” he shared.

With their shared interest for COD, Tyrant Gaming went full steam ahead in improving their game play. However, the release of Sony’s Playstation 4 (PS4) in 2o13 unexpectedly led the group to slowly drift apart as it meant that the newer versions of COD would only be available on the PS4. This posed a challenge for the members who did not make the upgrade since they could no longer play updated versions of COD.

In 2019, after several years of inactivity, Artajo decided to jumpstart the organization following the release of CODM—a variant of the very game that brought them together. In the first season of CODM, Tyrant Gaming entered the 2019 Call of Duty: Mobile Clan Invasion tournament and placed among the Top 16 teams. Their impressive finish inspired Artajo to revamp Tyrant Gaming as not only a clan, but also a full-on esports organization.

In December of that year, the gaming clan underwent reforms as evidenced by the induction of its own set of core members who took charge of player recruitment, organizational development, and game play analysis. For Artajo, the newly minted core provided stability to the budding organization. “The first few capable members of Tyrant Gaming created an organizational structure to ensure all aspects of the team were covered,” he shared.

However, Tyrant Gaming experienced their fair share of hardships on their way to the top. They hit their first roadblock as an esports organization in December 2019 when one of their teams disbanded, with another team following suit last February. 

Despite these trials, Artajo attributed Tyrant Gaming’s resilience to his fellow core members, who remained loyal since the organization’s relaunch despite the unfortunate circumstances. “There were many things I needed to account for, but luckily, I met a few helping hands along the way. The same hands [which] are now part of the Tyrant Gaming admins who help run the organization,” said Artajo.

Growth in experience

Today, Tyrant Gaming continues to reap the benefits of their hard work. In less than a year of participating in CODM tournaments, the organization has already garnered one major championship, 21 minor championships, three first runner-up finishes, and one second runner-up finish.

Their most recent triumph came last August 2 when one of their teams, Tyrant Gaming Astra, bagged the top prize in the 2020 Philippine Pro Gaming League CODM tournament. The team’s win led Tyrant Gaming to partner up with an esports service company—Eplayment—to create the first documentary on Tyrant Gaming Astra’s journey in the competition.

As the organization continues to grow, Artajo mentioned Tyrant Gaming’s plans to dabble into other modes of gaming such as the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) genre—where games such as Mobile Legends: Bang Bang fall under. “We wanted to try exploring other game modes aside from shooter games, and we believe the MOBA genre is very popular globally, making this a wise investment for Tyrant Gaming,” he explained.

Tyrant Gaming is also promoting gender equality in the Philippine esports community by assembling women’s teams for both CODM and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. As of writing, Tyrant Gaming’s  Mobile Legends women’s team is participating in the 2020 Liga Adarna, an esports tournament exclusive to female players.

Despite Tyrant Gaming’s numerous feats of success in gaming, Artajo believes that there is still much more in store for the organization. “Seeing how much we have achieved in a span of months, I believe the future is bright for Tyrant Gaming,” said Artajo. Moving forward, the organization remains grounded in their bid to excel in the Philippine esports scene.

Tyrant Gaming Core Members – Anton Artajo (CEO), Gil Santos (President), Paolo Olegario (Vice President), Joerty Toribio (Human Resource Manager), Collin Gonzales (Player Development Officer – Official Coach & Analyst), Edsel Tribdino (Media Director), Dale Tudtud (Chief Operations Officer), Kaidrich Pobre (Chief Legal Officer)