Yangon (AFP)

Suddenly the screen went black. Myint, star of the e-sport in Burma, must defend in November the colors of his country at the Games of Southeast Asia, where the discipline will be represented for the first time, but the frequent cuts of electricity the prevent to train as much as he wants.

Burma has one of the lowest electrification rates in Asia, with over 60% of the population without access to a modern grid, and outages are common.

Since playing, Myint Myat Zaw, 21, nicknamed in his "Insane" (crazy), claims to have already lost 40 games because of power cuts, with potential losses of several thousand dollars.

E-sport, which a few years ago still attracted only a limited number of enthusiasts - as in South Korea where professional video game competitions have been very present since the 1990s - has become a phenomenon mass over much of the Asian continent since the mid-2010s.

But Burma leaves with a certain disability, penalized not only by power cuts, but also by the lack of computers to train and funding to pay for travel abroad.

- "Seriously disadvantaged" -

The country, like other developing countries, is "seriously at a disadvantage" compared to its neighbors, including Thailand and China, said Jeremy Jackson, an analyst at NewZoo, while "access to stable electricity and the Internet is crucial "for this discipline.

Myint, one of the 16 Burmese players to participate in the South East Asian Games (SEA) in November in the Philippines, plays "Dota 2", a world-famous online fighting game. A "Dota 2" tournament was held in Shanghai last week, with $ 34 million (more than € 30 million) for the winner.

But the young Burmese Myint, who is not ranked internationally, is very far from these high-level competitions, huge marketing stakes and the accumulated wealth of some players. Tournaments are rare in Burma, which does not allow him to make a good living.

"These last three years (...) I lived in a video game shop in Yangon and I did not always have enough food," he laments.

Today, he is "proud" to visit the Philippines. "There is more pressure, but it makes me want to do better" and defend my country, he says.

- Boom mobile games -

His participation in the Southeast Asian Games should be very followed in Burma, where video game players are more numerous, especially on mobile. The penetration rate of the mobile phone has indeed exploded in recent years (80% in 2017 against 7% in 2012).

The sponsors have understood this and are starting to take an interest in this country.

Last month, Samsung organized a MobileUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) tournament at a Yangon shopping mall, a game that has already been downloaded more than 360 million times worldwide.

More than 400 teams took part, with a prize of 7,000 dollars (about 6,200 euros) for the winner, a considerable sum in a country where the average salary is less than 1,300 dollars (1,160 euros) per year.

© 2019 AFP