The pioneering spirit of the BCI has not wavered since its creation. A forerunner in many fields, it has chosen e-sport as its new winning bet since 2020. At the time, the discipline was marginal in New Caledonia and seen as a form of entertainment: by creating the territory’s first e-sport tournament with ESNC (association E-Sport Nouvelle-Calédonie), the BCI helped promote the discipline, giving it its first letters of nobility with other institutions and heralding the rise of this new type of sport in the region. Today, there are more than 10,000 players on all platforms in New Caledonia, and this number continues to grow every year.
Close to Caledonians, the BCI has always been committed to supporting all its customers, whatever their age, profession or location. E-sport has the particularity of uniting players at a distance and creating a virtual link between geographically distant people, just as the BCI has been doing in its own way for over 30 years. Players from all four corners of New Caledonia can come together in the same team to take part in the BCI Ligue tournament, just as regional players can join in the competition. The discipline thus contributes to the regional influence of the territory, conveying a modern and dynamic image.
In taking up the challenge of e-sport, the BCI also supports the rising stars of this sport in New Caledonia, offering them a stimulating environment in which to evolve. With the ESNC association, the BCI Ligue tournament has evolved over the years, from a competition reserved for Fortnite players, to a more complete, more inclusive but also more challenging tournament, including 6 different games: Apex, Just Act Natural, Sims 4, Omega Strikers, Fortnite and Fall Guys.
Alongside the BCI League, e-sport in the Territory has become more professional, with the creation of a dedicated incubator: “Lagoon Gaming”. The ESNC association has worked tirelessly to propel e-sport to new horizons, and in particular has been able to send two Caledonian talents to Las Vegas to compete against the world’s 512 best players in 2023. This discipline also offers new economic prospects, with the emergence of related professions and new career paths.
The practice of e-sports has also democratized the use of new dedicated communication channels in New Caledonia, such as Twich or Discord: one being an equivalent of YouTube for gamers, and the other a messaging system with specific features inherent to the world of online gaming. These new modes of communication enable the BCI to reinvent itself and communicate in a more informal and accessible way to its target audiences, in the tradition of its Club Mouv’ (also a partner of the BCI Ligue).
In New Caledonia, the BCI was the very first institution to take up this risky challenge, positioning itself as a leader in this new discipline and confirming its position as a key player in New Caledonian sport. In the water, on land and now online, the BCI supports the disciplines that make Caledonians’ hearts beat faster, and helps reveal the talents that will be the pride of tomorrow’s Caillou. Thanks to this commitment, the BCI is once again proving its agility by investing in new fields, its confidence in Caledonian talent, while remaining close to the expectations of its customers (and future customers).
Proud of this achievement, the BCI is renewing its confidence in the ESNC for the organization of a new edition of the BCI League, which is sure to surprise Caledonians and Pacific players once again.
