But one company is bucking that trend - in a big way. Infocomm Asia Holdings (IAH) is staging a competition in September that gives gamers the chance to win more than $25,000 in prizes.

Its inaugural One Asia Cup competition, launched on Thursday, is the biggest tournament here in five years with a total prize purse of nearly $200,000, most of it in cash and the rest in limited edition gaming premiums.

To win, gamers must beat other gamers either online or in network game competitions in Electronic Arts' Fifa Online 2 soccer game. These smaller competitions will help IAH identify Singapore's top six Fifa players, who will battle three other national teams, from Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, in the grand finals in September.

IAH's chief executive Roland Ong said it wants to 'bring world-class gaming to Southeast Asia' to its customers. He noted that many video game competitions have faded out because of the economic downturn.

Of the dozen or so competitions organised by schools and community clubs in previous years, many folded due to a lack of sponsorship.

On the international front, only the World Cyber Games (WCG) remains; its rivals Championship Gaming Series and Electronic Sports World Cup have announced Game Over.

Having a competition with a lucrative prize might just make that happen, said video games architect and former pro-gamer Wilson Chia. In previous years, Mr Chia, who represented Singapore in the 2007 WCG, took home between $20,000 and $30,000 every year - 'good enough to survive on'.

Today, such winnings are no longer possible even if he joins and wins every single gaming competition here, he said. But new gamers tempted by the prize money to start now probably won't win any big prizes, said Mr Chia, who specialises in kung-fu fighting games like Dead or Alive 4.

'It takes maybe a year to train to the point that you are good enough to be competitive ... I won't be taking part since Fifa is a different genre and uses a different skillset from what I have.'