The Philippines’ Premier Gaming and Pop Culture Festival shook us to the core last July 23-24, 2022 at the SMX Convention Center, Pasay City, Metro Manila. Tons of people have joined us on the weekend-long and exclusive CONQuest 2022, where friends, family, gamers, and tech enthusiasts came and gathered together to have fun with the various booths and events in store. The Festival filled with RGB lights, pop music, and booming voices of hosts as well as the people around it was indeed one to remember!
ABOUT CONQuest
Started from their humble beginnings way back in 2017 as a group of High School Students from Iloilo City formed CONQuest as a simple group project in which 2,000 people have attended in Casa Real, fast forward to the present CONQuest has now become one of the largest and most awaited Pop Culture Festival of all time.
In 2019 the CONQuest Team worked together with student-leaders throughout the Philippines which paved the way to AcadArena: The Country’s First Ever Collegiate Gaming and Esports Network. From the small scale convention event in Iloilo City, CONQuest has now achieved the height of being one of the biggest events in the Philippines.
After three years since the pandemic started, CONQuest returns to its vibrant satire as it launches CONQuest 2022.
The event was held at the SMX Convention Center covering two floors of the convention center! Doors to the event started to open at 9 AM for those with the Premium Pass Holders and Weekend Pass Plus Holders ensuring that they would get back in full what they have paid for, officially the event has started at 11 AM for Day Pass and Weekend Pass Holders, the halls as well as the outside of the venue is packed with people as they endure the summer heat, the CONQUest Staff braves the heat as well keeping everyone in line and putting those in priority to their right lanes as well.
As mentioned, the event in itself covers two floors of the Convention Center, the Halls on the First Floor house the major exhibitors and sponsors of the event namely Rumble Royale, Predator, Globe, Republic of Gamers (ROG), and many more. Everything techy and all things in line with building your PC stronger than how it is can be found on this floor along with a massive community stage for everyone to join and be a part with.
The Second Floor of the venue greets guests with rows and rows of artist booths and VTuber merch, homing different artists like Hunghang Comics, EDGE Marketing, Balangay Live, and many more. Some of the event sponsors are also on the second floor such as Metacrafters, XLD Finance, and GankGuest’s booths were also seen on the second floor which includes the Peenoise Realm, Anne Yatco, Christian Banas, and many more interacted with everyone. The second floor was also dedicated to hold Tabletop Gamers, Retro Arcade Gamers, and Osu! Players as they play and enjoy themselves over the weekends.
There were also several activities held on both main stages of both floors simultaneously such as Alliance Games, Celebrity Valorant Games, Conquest Passport, Industry Hall, Streaming Zone, and many many more!
We were lucky to be joined by Balangay Live, a PH based Vtuber Group which aims to promote Philippine Folklore, culture, and the conservation of endemic animals through their various Vtubers! During the weekend-long CONQuest, their talents were live on their platforms to see and interact with the crowd of people going to and from the halls. It was indeed a sight to see as they strive to provide enjoyable and interactive ways to know more of the Philippine Culture, you can follow and know more about them through their twitter account under the same name.
Another unforgettable experience with one of the special guests were the “sana all” couple of the esports team, Blacklist International V33Wise. We were privileged to see them face each other off head-to-head at an exclusive MLB community stage. It’s inspiring to know the efforts and continuous hard work that they put into the game as well as their dedication to it, aside from VeeWise of course there were plenty of guests invited during CONQuest 2022.
One of the highlights for CONQuest was the meet and greet with Kyedae, a Content Creator and Valorant Streamer who made her name known with her undeniable skills while representing their company 100Thieves. Lily Ki also known as LilyPichu, is an OG League of Legends Content Creator, Streamer, Artist, and the EN voice of Sayu from Genshin Impact. Micahel Reeves, a Content Creator known for his cahoots and crazy robot ideas also came to the Philippines for CONQuest 2022 along with many more guests.
Guests for this year’s CONQuest were not limited to In Real Life (IRL) streamers, everyone also got a chance to personally meet and greet BAO the Whale, who is a Virtual Youtuber/Liver or VTuber, who streams various content on her Twitch Channel. We also got to see Senz who is also a rising Vtuber on Twitch that streams a variety of games with his signature commentaries.
WHAT TO LOOK FORWARD TO
The global pandemic is still looming added with a new variant. However, adapting to the new normal made this event possible. After Three years and Two Online Events, CONQuest 2022 did not disappoint as they brought the Festival to life once more, giving everyone the convention that they have been craving for. The RGB Lights, Upbeat and Light Music, Cosplayers, Talents, Guests, and Exhibitors, make us anticipate for the next CONQuest 2023!
We thank the organizers, sponsors, and of course the ever present staff at the venue which made navigation easier for everyone. For more information about upcoming events by CONQuest you can follow them through their social media platforms to stay in tune to the Biggest Gaming and Culture Festival soon. In case you missed this convention do look out because FanFes is just right around the corner to be announced this August 2022!
Thank you for MetaCrafters, Coin Base, and to every sponsor, as well as to everyone in the team that made this event possible. Special thanks to the media team for their contribution to the photos and research.
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