Would you travel 36 hours and 1,300km on a bus for esports? These Indonesian fans did

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For most, attending an esports event may mean a short subway trip or a plane ride from another part of the country.

But in Indonesia – with over 17,000 islands and around 1.9 million sq km in size – an esports event in the capital city of Jakarta meant a 36-hour journey there, and another 36 hours back by bus without stopping to rest at night for some.

And many who were at the recent Free Fire World Series 2025 weren’t deterred the least bit. 

More than 3,000 fans from 45 cities hopped on 60 buses provided by Garena, a Singapore-based esports company, to attend the Free Fire World Series.

The event, which took place at the Indonesia Arena on Nov 14 and 15 and drew a crowd of 6,000, was the first ever to be held in the country.

Some of them came from as far as Dumai in Riau Province and Padang in West Sumatra, approximately 1,400km and 1,300km from Jakarta, respectively.

“It was a long journey, and of course, we didn’t get enough rest because we couldn’t stretch our back, sleep well, or lie down. But as soon as we got here to meet with the other members of the Free Fire community, those feelings of tiredness are gone and I felt really happy,” Rian Pamungkas Saputra told CNA Lifestyle. 

Rian, a Free Fire Community Builder, had travelled from Padang – with his five-year-old son Baliq Mufid Pamungkas. 

He had originally planned to travel with both of his sons, but eventually decided to bring the younger one as his older kid did not like travelling on long journeys.

“Baliq was very well behaved, very calm and quiet on the trip here. And while he doesn’t play Free Fire, he knows what it is, and always wants to know about the game, especially when I’m playing together with his older brother. Maybe when he is older, he will be able to play.”

A COMMUNITY EVENT

While Garena has previously organised buses for its community for local events, this was the first time it had done so on such a scale – as a reward of sorts and a show of appreciation for their fans all over the Southeast Asian country.

“We started the community programme for Free Fire in 2018, but we had to manage them online because of the COVID situation until 2022. After that, we reopened and rebuilt with offline and grassroots events,” said Wijaya Nugroho, head of business development, esports, and community for Garena Indonesia.

“We have more than 17,000 islands, 514 cities [and regencies] and 38 states. It’s quite challenging for us as the majority of our community are still youths in high schools and universities. So we had the idea of bringing buses to support them, as they want to watch the esports event but the challenge and concern for them was the transportation,” he said.

Wijaya added that they spent around six months planning the logistics. It had helped that they had previous experience doing something similar albeit on a smaller scale for national level events.

Each bus had two drivers taking shifts of 12 hours each, with two co-drivers on standby in case of emergencies. Depending on the location, some attendees also had to take a ferry to cross over from another island. They then had to make the same trip back right after the event concluded. 

WHAT IS FREE FIRE ESPORTS?

Free Fire is a mobile third-person shooter game that’s mostly played as a battle royale. What this means is that up to 52 players compete on a map that slowly shrinks, with the last person the winner. In a competitive esports setting, this changes to 12 teams of four players, with up to 10 games played, each taking around 15 to 20 minutes. They get points for eliminating opponents and surviving to the last.

Unlike previous World Series where the highest point scoring team wins, this year’s US$1m (S$1.3m) championship introduced a new format, where the first team to accumulate 80 points were crowned winners only if they were the final surviving team in the next round. This allowed for multiple teams to score 80 points, potentially leading to an even more exciting finale with more than one team in contention for the crown.

UNFLAGGING ENTHUSIASM

If you’ve never attended an esports event with a bunch of enthusiastic and patriotic Indonesians fans before, you should really try to add it to your bucket list. 

Despite the long bus rides, the Free Fire fans were full of energy on the first day, as they gathered at a meeting point just outside the stadium for a parade comprising lots of flag waving, smoke flares, and cheers.

There were two Indonesian teams in contention at the international event – Evos Divine and RRQ Kazu – but “if you ask me to decide between either Indonesian team, I can’t”, said Rian. 

“For me, the most important thing is that an Indonesian team wins. We have to win because when we are playing at home, we must win. If we don’t win, when we go back to Padang it’s going to be a long road home feeling empty.”

Garena also pulled out all the stops for the impressive stage and opening ceremony, which featured K-pop-like performances, traditional dhol drum performances, and plenty of stage pyrotechnics. It made for a spectacular experience.

Furthermore, the local fans were a nonstop joyful riot of coordinated cheering, drums, giant flags, and applause as the fans rallied behind their homegrown squads.

THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM

Indonesia’s Evos Divine were considered hot favourites, having won the Esports World Cup earlier this year. But Thailand’s Buriram United Esports and Brazil’s Fluxo were also very much in contention. Buriram had already won two titles, while Fluxo were back-to-back champions at the series and were hoping for a historic three-peat. (Incidentally, they won last year by narrowly beating the other Indonesian team, RRQ Kazu.) 

Despite a strong start, Evos Divine were unable to muster momentum, eventually finishing ninth. Local rivals RRQ Kazu were able to rally their way to a fourth-placed finish, while Buriram proved their mettle with their third championship having prevailed over second-placed Fluxo. 

Buriram took home US$300,000 for their efforts, while Fluxo would get US$150,000 for coming in second.

While neither Indonesian team came first on home ground, their supporters could take pride that RRQ Kazu did not let them down at least, having been only one of the four teams to win a round and eventually finishing fourth. 

Perhaps more than enough consolation for Rian, his son and everyone else who still had a long bus ride home.