Esports gets the headlines, but it isn't the whole story at Vertex. Since 2021 we've built our name on esports production — and since then we've been just as deliberate about proving that the same tools (gamified mechanics, live broadcast, structured competition, genuine entertainment production) work just as well on a pickleball court as they do on a gaming stage. The Ultimate Pickleball Tournament, powered by MILO, is the project that made that case loudest.
Not a tournament. A festival.
Ideated, produced and organised end to end by Vertex, UPT launched as the first nationwide gamified sports event of its kind in Malaysia — and the word "gamified" was never just marketing language. Rather than running a single bracket, UPT staged two distinctive tournaments across one event, with a live professional broadcast, live casters calling the action, a full F&B area, live music, public pickle clinics and KOL meet-ups running alongside the competition itself. The goal wasn't to run a sports tournament with some entertainment bolted on — it was to build a festival where the sport happened to be pickleball.
Custom cards, not just custom scoring
The "gamified" part of gamified sports showed up most clearly in UPT's own deck of named power cards — mechanics like Kaw Kaw Service, Boost Up, Lefty Righty, The Chef and Grounded, each one a rule twist players could bring into a match. It's the same instinct esports game design has used for years — give players tools, not just a scoreboard — applied to a sport that, until UPT, had never had anything like it in Malaysia.
Traditional sports don't need reinventing. They need the same production value and game design thinking esports already takes for granted.
The numbers behind the festival
UPT ran across two days at the 91 Pickleball Clubhouse, with a total prize pool of RM36,000 on the line — a serious number for a sport still building its competitive scene in Malaysia, and a clear signal that this wasn't a casual community event. Running two tournaments, a full broadcast operation, public clinics and brand activations across a single weekend took the same kind of technical production team Vertex builds for its esports and motorsport broadcasts — camera operators, casters, a creative director — pointed at a pickleball court instead of a sim rig.
Why this matters beyond pickleball
UPT is proof of a broader point: the Vertex playbook — custom game mechanics, broadcast-grade production, structured competition formats, and an experience built around spectators as much as players — isn't tied to esports or motorsport. It's a way of building any competitive event, in any sport, so it feels like something worth watching rather than something you'd only care about if you already follow it. For brands looking to activate around traditional sports, UPT is the template: add the mechanics, add the broadcast, add the festival around it, and pizzazz follows.
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