Zambian gamer Justin Banda aka Mr. 5000 won the Pro Series Gaming Mortal Kombat XL Tournament without losing a single game to take home Ksh 500,000. The tournament held at the Prestige Cinema is so far Kenya's most lucrative eSports contest with a prize pool of a whopping Ksh 1 million.Kenya's William Omondi aka Priest finished second after an epic finals battle with Mr. 5000. He came up short this time, losing 3-0. Another Zambian, Zaza Mwelele, came in third. They won Ksh 200,000 and Ksh 100,000 respectively for their efforts.The tournament pitted 39 of the best Mortal Kombat players in East Africa against each other with Kenya, Uganda and Zambia being represented.Globally, eSports (electronic sports), which is basically competition using video games, is growing exponentially. A report valued the industry at $1.5 billion in 2017 and there's even talk of adding it as an Olympic sport. In Kenya, the gaming industry will be worth $130 million by 2020 according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.While Pro Series Gaming may still be a long way away from filling up stadiums and handing out $20 million prize pools like The International, one of the world's biggest eSports tournaments, they are laying the groundwork to get there. And with corporates like Liquid Telecom and Kwese throwing their weight behind these kind of tournaments, it's not long before the Kenyan eSports scene and players start to rival the best of the best.The Mortal Kombat XL Tournament was a rousing success. Pro Series Gaming put up a fantastic afternoon of gaming and the local gaming fans responded by flooding the venue to catch a piece of the action and cheer on their favourites. It felt like the beginning of something great.