The esports events in the SEA Games 2023 have ended! Here are the overall and game-specific medal tallies and a few memorable storylines.
Esports events in the 2023 Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) just wrapped up. This was the third time the multi-sporting competition had esports as a medal event. The SEA Games 2023 event, which took place in Cambodia, saw teams from across the region compete for the gold medal in different PC and mobile games.
Here’s a rundown of everything esports that happened at the SEA Games 2023.
SEA Games 2023 esports: Final medal tally
There were a total of nine different events split into men's and women's competitions or team-based and individual events in Attack Online 2, Crossfire, VALORANT, Wild Rift, PUBG Mobile, and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB).
However, each country was only allowed to enter seven events. Cambodia, however, being the event host, was allowed to compete in all nine of them. Therefore, there were a total of 27 medals up for grabs. The overall tally went up to 33 because several shared medals were given out.
Indonesia had the lead with three gold medals earned in VALORANT, PUBG Mobile, and MLBB. The country-specific medal tally is below.
Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | |
1 | Indonesia | 3 | 2 | - | 5 |
2 | Cambodia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
3 | The Philippines | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
4 | Vietnam | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 |
5 | Singapore | 1 | - | 1 | 2 |
6 | Malaysia | - | 2 | 2 | 4 |
7 | Thailand | - | - | 2 | 2 |
8 | Laos | - | - | 1 | 1 |
8 | Myanmar | - | - | 1 | 1 |
Here are the game-specific medal tallies of esports in the SEA Games 2023:
- Attack Online 2 Individual: Cambodia (Gold), Cambodia (Silver), and Thailand (Bronze).
- Attack Online 2 Team: Cambodia (Gold), Malaysia (Silver), and Thailand (Bronze).
- Crossfire: Vietnam (Gold), Indonesia (Silver), and the Philippines and Laos (Joint Bronze).
- VALORANT: Singapore and Indonesia (Joint Gold) and the Philippines and Vietnam (Joint Bronze). No silver medal was awarded in VALORANT in light of the joint bronze medal.
- Wild Rift: The Philippines (Gold), Vietnam (Silver), and Singapore (Bronze).
- PUBG Mobile (Individual): Cambodia (Gold), Indonesia (Silver), and Vietnam and the Philippines (Joint Bronze).
- PUBG Mobile (Team): Indonesia (Gold), Vietnam (Silver), and Vietnam and Malaysia (Joint Bronze).
- MLBB Men: The Philippines (Gold), Malaysia (Silver), and Myanmar and Cambodia (Joint Bronze).
- MLBB Women: Indonesia (Gold), the Philippines (Silver), and Malaysia and Vietnam (Joint Bronze).
Three storylines to remember
The esports events in the SEA Games 2023 ended, but there were three main storylines to take away from it. Firstly, there was the controversy surrounding the joint gold medal in VALORANT. During the second game of the finals between Indonesia and Singapore, Indonesia protested an alleged Cypher camera exploit by Singapore. At that point, Indonesia was down 4-10 and 0-1 in the series.
Singapore later claimed that they weren’t aware of such an exploit. Nonetheless, the administrators decided to penalize them by resuming the game at 5-5.
Indonesia felt this was unfair and decided to forfeit the game to “uphold the nation’s dignity.” Thus, the organizers awarded a joint gold medal. A lot of fans felt that Indonesia's gold medal was undeserved because the game should have resumed with the updated score.
The second storyline was about Indonesia's shocking exit from the MLBB men's tournament. They came in as one of the favorites to win gold, but were knocked out in the group stage itself with losses against Myanmar and Cambodia. Eventually, the Philippines cruised through the competition and took the gold.
Lastly, there was the record-setting viewership of the MLBB women's tournament. The gold medal match between Indonesia and the Philippines attracted a peak of 1.3 million viewers, according to Esports Charts — a new record for an all-women esports competition worldwide.
Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest mobile news and updates.