Incredible Connection Ends Mind Sports SA Sponsorship

Incredible Connection has chosen not to renew its sponsorship of Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA).

Trevor Henry, Incredible Connection Gaming Coordinator, says the main reason behind the decision not to renew the sponsorship was because of Incredible Connection taking a more standard approach to the competitive gaming community.

“Each event will be judged by its own merits and our involvement will be determined by a number of factors including exposure, participants and scale of the event,” he says.

While Henry says the organisation did find value in their sponsorship of the MSSA, he also cited tightening budgets as a reason for being unable to renew the sponsorship, which was signed just seven months ago.

Incredible Connection sponsored the MSSA 2009 National LAN Championships. However, some of the provincial LAN championships had to be cancelled due to not enough people registering for those events.

MSSA Woes:

The MSSA’s numbers have declined sharply over the last couple of years. In 2008, the MSSA had over 220 players playing in its eSports league alone. However, after AGASA stopped its managements of MSSA online leagues, the number of players in its leagues dropped to 134 at the start of the 2009 leagues.

And by the end of last year, there were only nine paid-up clubs across eSports, Figure Gaming and Board Gaming.

Furthermore, the MSSA is still involved in a dispute with Ria Venter, who was originally voted onto the MSSA Women’s Desk. After voting irregularities surfaced, the MSSA said she was in fact not voted onto the Women’s desk and Venter was subsequently suspended. She then challenged the suspension and is awaiting news from the MSSA on the process going forward. The MSSA has clarified the issue to some degree here.

The MSSA meanwhile continues with its 2010 programme, planning LAN championships across five provinces and an online league, which is all expected to culminate in national championships.