Garena RoV 10th Anniversary Event Draws Over 50,000 People at IMPACT Exhibition Center

Garena Online (Thailand), the publisher of the leading mobile game Arena of Valor (Garena RoV), hosted Arena of the Decade (Battlefield of the Decade) to celebrate its 10th anniversary. The event elevated the annual esports tournament into an offline entertainment experience combining gaming, music and pop culture. Held from 23 to 25 October 2026 at IMPACT Exhibition Center, the event attracted more than 50,000 players, esports spectators and fandom members, while recording a peak concurrent livestream viewership of 221,490.

Strategy for Turning Player Insights into Cross-Industry Event Design

Mr Patcharapol Chatanan, Assistant Operations Manager at Garena Online (Thailand) and Producer of Arena of Valor Thailand, stated that the organisation regularly surveys player opinions to gather insights for developing content and designing campaigns that meet their needs. Survey findings revealed that in addition to gaming, RoV players are interested in other forms of entertainment, particularly music. The organiser therefore used this data to design activities combining esports competitions with performances by T-Pop and K-Pop artists, allowing all groups of attendees to enjoy the atmosphere in the same space.

A major activity that received an overwhelming response was the RoV T-Pop Tournament 2026, which expanded from last year's showmatch between BUS and PROXIE into a full-scale tournament. The event brought together 20 idols from eight leading T-Pop groups, namely BUS, PROXIE, PERSES, ATLAS, DICE, VVV, DEXX and 9214Kids. They were divided into four teams based on regions in RoV to train with well-known coaches and creators before competing on stage as pro-players. TEAM LOKHEIM, led by Nice from ATLAS, won the championship title and the FMVP award, while TEAM NORMAN, led by Onglee from PROXIE, finished as runner-up.

10th Anniversary Championship Finals and Three-Day Concert Stage

In the main tournament, RoV Pro League 2026 Winter, which featured a total prize pool of 10,250,000 baht, Buriram United Esports defeated Full Sense 4 to 2 in the grand finals. The victory enabled Buriram United Esports to defend their championship title for a second consecutive season and claim the 6,000,000 baht first prize on the occasion of RoV's 10th anniversary. Meanwhile, in the all-female Miss RoV Tournament 2026 Season 2, which had a total prize pool of 700,000 baht, eArena successfully retained their championship title for a second term after defeating Hydra by a score of 4 to 2.

The venue was also transformed into a three-day concert stage, highlighted by the special project RoV X Hearts2Hearts Next Chapter, which brought South Korean girl group Hearts2Hearts from SM Entertainment to perform K-Pop music. The event also featured performances by PROXIE and VVV, as well as PERSES dressed in costumes inspired by in-game hero characters. In addition, the opening ceremony of Miss RoV Tournament 2026 featured DREAMGALS and Cherprang Areekul performing the song ECHO ECHO, while the opening ceremony of RoV Pro League 2026 Winter featured artist JMNK performing the song Timeless Legend (Tamnan Nuea Kan Wela), reinforcing the event's role as a pop culture hub welcoming new communities into the RoV ecosystem.

Summary of Event Details and Prize Pools

The success of this event provides useful insights for event planners and MICE organisers looking to design large-scale events by combining esports competitions with music to broaden audience reach. Hoteliers and hospitality businesses near event venues can use these event trends to plan for tens of thousands of attendees and fandom visitors. At the same time, travellers and those seeking entertainment activities can follow festivals of this kind when planning weekend leisure trips.