While most online tournaments do not have strict specifics for Internet Service Providers (ISP), that happens to not be the case with EVO 2021 Online, the group behind tournaments for fighting games like Tekken and Street Fighter.

A post from the Tekken Philippines Facebook page notes that players who have Globe, Sky, and Converge as their ISPs are banned from EVO 2021 Online’s tournaments, including the upcoming Tekken 7 South Asia tournament. With the ruling, only those using DITO, PLDT and Smart are qualified to join. If that is not enough, EVO 2021 Online’s rules also state that they will ban players who do not use a wired connection.

The ruling may be very peculiar and unfair to a lot of Filipinos who want to compete in tournaments hosted by EVO 2021 Online, but a post on their Discord server explained that the aforementioned ISPs have “consistent connection issues during prior online tournaments”.

Competitive games require an internet connection that has the lowest latency possible, and a slight dip in latency can greatly affect a match that has a large prize pool at stake. The Asia tournament has a prize pool of $5,250 per game, with the first place, second place, and third place winners getting $1,500 $1,250, and $500 respectively.

We are trying to reach out to Converge, Globe, Sky, DITO and PLDT on the matter, and we will give you more details about this development.