Bernard “Bren” Chong professed his love for gaming and animating at a very young age – and that love never wavered up to this day.
“I’ve played my fair share of video games growing up, then I eventually found myself enjoying the competitive nature of esports competitions,” he fondly recalled.
Chong comes from the well-off Chong clan, which owns several businesses in the Philippines – including popular sports footwear and apparel brand World Balance. He immediately entered the family business as soon as he finished his education, and learned all about sales and finance.
After absorbing as much experience as he could, Chong decided to use his grasp of the business industry to go back to things he feels most passionate about.
Chong was a staple in different local and international gaming conventions throughout the years. That’s where he saw the massive potential of the budding esports scene in the Philippines.
Convinced that the competitive nature of Filipinos will push the industry to relevance, he founded BREN Esports in 2017 with the mission to give esports athletes a professional environment wherein they can focus solely on perfecting their craft.
“I’ve seen the potential of many aspiring esports athletes here in the Philippines and we established Bren Esports to give them the proper structure and support for them to succeed,” shared Chong.
BREN Esports, through the unwavering support from all the people at the backend, was able to dominate the local esports scene in the past year.
But none of these achievements was bigger than the M2 World Championship victory of the Mobile Legends squad composed of Cj “Ribo” Ribo, Karl “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno, Angelo “Pheww” Arcangel, Allan “Lusty” Castromayor, David “FlapTzy” Canon, Mico “Coco” Sampang, Efphraim “Ejhay” Sambrano, and Francis “Duckey” Glindro. Together, they vindicated the organization’s approach in handling esports athletes.
Chong is also the co-owner of Synergy88 Studios – the Philippines’ first Microsoft-accredited art supplier, which specializes in mobile games and 2D character designs. Synergy88 was one of the three visual studios in the country that provided 2D and 3D assets to arguably the biggest action-role playing video game in recent years, Cyberpunk 2077.
Synergy88 was also responsible for bringing in Japanese-Filipino anime Barangay 143 to life. A star-studded Filipino ensemble cast consisting of the likes of Edu Manzano, John Arcilla, Cherie Gil, Julie Anne San Jose, and Ruru Madrid gave voices to the characters.
Chong has always been passionate about gaming and animation. And so he did not hesitate when he started to put up his business ventures featuring the two.
One might wonder, what’s the next project for Chong?
Well, the renowned e-commerce tycoon has yet to announce his future plans. But he gave us a glimpse of what’s bound to happen next – and yes, it still involves his passion for gaming.
“Bren Esports will continue to move forward with our plans to be represented in all major esports events. We have a lot of plans to expand that we can’t mention for now but these are very exciting times for the Bren Esports brand and I hope you can all join us as we elevate esports.”
