Games and sports are the most interesting subjects we have. Many of us love sports and games madly. Computer and smartphone gaming saves us from this boring quarantine. Many of us become addicted to mobile games during this lockdown. But still, due to the pandemic, we miss sports a lot. we deal with our sports cravings with the help of video games. But do you have any idea about Esports? You may hear the word from many video game lovers or gamer. In short, Esports is basically a competition using videogames. Sounds interesting, right? Organized competition of Esports has become a part of video game culture. Apart from the organized competition, it takes place as a multiplayer videogame competition between professional players. Any individual player or even teams can participate in these competitions. Live streaming is an important part of these competitions to get huge popularity. Esports in Asia has huge popularity among the people between the age group 18 to 34. Esports is also a significant part of the video game industry, apart from game developers and designers.
The popular video game genres associated with Esports are MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena), RTS (real-time strategy), FPS (first-person shooter), etc. Esports also use online streaming media platforms especially YouTube for its growth and promotion. Esports has generated a historic revenue of $519 million in2019 in Asia. This historic revenue makes it the no.1 region in the world according to the report by market researcher Niko Partners. Niko Partners is the market researcher as well as a consulting firm for the video game industry, markets, and gamers in Asia. Niko partners also help game publishers, platforms, hardware makers, Esports, payment providers, cryptocurrencies, consumers brands, etc in the West and East Asia. It also provides qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. The huge growth and frequency of Esports continue in 2020, despite of this pandemic. But Niko partners didn’t provide any specific forecast for 2020.
Asia generated almost half of global revenue in 2019. They achieve this by hosting big events like Riot Games’ League of Legends Championships. According to Esports, Asia contains over 595 million Esports players and almost 510 million Esports fans. Mobile esports also has huge popularity in Asia. Mobile esports games have generated revenue of $13.3 billion which is 68% of global mobile esports game revenue. There are 15 % of female professional esports players in Asia. Since 2000, China and South Korea professional licensed esports players. But in Japan esports is underdeveloped in comparison with China and South Korea due to the anti-gambling laws. This anti-gambling law prohibits any kind of paid professional gaming tournaments. The expansion of esports is not limited only inside Asia. The popularity of Esports is expanded in Europe and America too. Many large International Esports events taking place in these regions.
But due to COVID 19 pandemic situation, every industry is facing a crisis. From small cottage industry to big tech giants are facing the jolt of the pandemic. Esports and video game industries are also faced with the same crisis. The rapid expansion of esports has slowdown and in-person tournaments have moved online. But the viewership of esports has been significantly increased during the pandemic. People spent more time on gaming during quarantine and lockdown. In Asia, the esports streaming viewership increased by 75%- 100%. 50%-75% of gamers are spending more time playing games during the pandemic. COVID 19 impacted the gaming industry as well. But the way esports and gaming industry in Asia has managed the roadblocks is absolutely remarkable.
Asia has made a roadmap for the other country in developing esports, according to Mr. Alexander Chaplin, one of Niko’s seniors of esports. Esports tournaments, esports tourism, mobile esports are also increased in the post-COVID situation in Asia. With government support, the esports infrastructure will be flourished in Asia in the post-pandemic era. In terms of both revenue and fans, China has the largest Esports market. Though South Korea is the birthplace of esports but China has the most developed infrastructure for esports. In the case of industry development and revenue, South Korea has the biggest Esports market. According to Niko analysis in many countries of Southeast Asia including Vietnam the growth of mobile esports is incredible. Free Fire, League of Legends, Arena of Valor, Hearthstone, StarCraft 2, Clash Royale – these are the most popular games among the mass of Southeast Asia. According to Niko esports revenue is generated by the elements of the esports ecosystem, including sponsorship, team franchising, and media licensing, merchandising, and finally ticketing and live streaming income for tournaments. But esports revenue doesn’t include esports game sales, in-app purchases, and other microtransactions.