The world woke up to a new world Champion from the Guilty Gear Strive Championship in the person of Verix (@ismailla702) from the Solo Esports Team. This is not surprising as he has previously attained success in other major events including EVO2023 finalist, UFA 2023 champion and Arcworld Tour 2023 finalists.
The win is an emphatic statement for Verix as an athlete, Solo esports team showing leadership in esports team sports and for Africa, as a force to reckon with in esports when the opportunity is provided.
During his run he didn’t drop a single game and beat all his opponents all the way through to the grand finals on the winner side. Through this success run he defeated two of American’s best players, the now former world #1 Tempest, Umisho #2. In the grand finals he defeated ‘Slash’ the Saudi best player.
The narrative of esports as a profession is changing in Africa as more Africans participate in international and global events and win major prizes. This trickles down to sustaining the esports team as well as creating employment opportunities in the communities, sector, and the countries. Associated industries spring out of the esports industry including fashion, health, food, arena and may others. Africa is certainly the next frontier in esports and is yet to see a major Global esports event hosted on the continent.
Guilty Gear Strive is a fighting video game published by Arc Sytems, The ARC World Tour 2023 Finals is the pinnacle of the Championship where three different fighting games will crown a champion. From Guilty Gear Strive to Under Night In-Birth II, the action all goes down in Long Beach, California. The Championship event was spread over three days from March 21 to 23. This year saw ArcSys split its biggest tournament into multiple parts to host other events alongside its tournaments. The Championship included live activities for athletes and fans, they also provided opportunities for fans to play matches against the developers of several games, an entertainment concert, and more in the lead-up to top-level action for the two main games of the weekend—Guilty Gear Strive and Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising.
The genre GGST has come to its end this year at ARC World Tour 2023 circuit and will see the top 16 players in the world competing for their share of $100,000. The Arc Systems gave a glimpse at what is coming next for the game, with A.B.A. confirmed to be making her comeback on March 26.
ARC World Tour 2023 Finals full Guilty Gear Strive standings
| Place | Player | Prize |
| First | Verix | $50,000 |
| Second | Slash | $20,000 |
| Third | TempestNYC | $10,000 |
| Fourth | Zando | $5,000 |
| Fifth | Aarondamac, UMISHO | $2,500 |
| Seventh | Leo., Peppery Splash | $1,500 |
| Ninth | Daru_I-No, GOBOU, Leffen, Tiger_Pop | $1,000 |
| 13th | NBNHMR, Tyurara, ApologyMan, Jonathan Tene | $750 |