Rise of the cyber athletes

An e-Sports competition in Kaohsiung, Taiwan last year. E-Sports tournament structures in Southeast Asia are said to be not as organized as in Taiwan. [Photo/Agencies]

Phenomenal growth

"We can't speculate as to the exact reason why VCs are investing in Asian e-Sports platforms and tournaments. That being said, we believe that e-Sports continually shows phenomenal growth in the number of players and spectators," says Paul Chan, chief marketing officer at Hong Kong Esports, which owns a professional Hong Kong-based gaming team of the same name.

"We feel that an industry with such large-scale growth of active and engaged fans as e-Sports is always a good place to invest, as eventually various different products and services can be offered to those fans."

And it is not hard to see why the whole industry is becoming hugely popular. China, for example, has a large population and a high penetration of both internet and mobile phones.

"I see people who are aged forty-something or more playing e-Sports on mobile phones. Video platforms don't earn money in China. Instead, video platforms earn money in other countries. Chinese users don't need to pay for watching, and platform owners charge the business side, like the video content providers," says Wang Sicong.

The son of China's richest man Wang Jianlin, who owns Wanda Group, Wang has put 500 million yuan into the sector through his venture firm Prometheus Capital, according to stock exchange filings.

"In second- or third-tier cities, people need e-Sports. In Beijing or Shanghai, people have many places to go to, many things to do. But in other small cities, people don't have many choices, so they end up going online, as well as making friends through e-Sports," he adds.

Aware of this trend, Alibaba made a $150 million investment and formed a strategic partnership with IeSF, which has 47 countries signed up as members.

The partnership has three goals. The first is to establish a tournament in "which all e-Sports players and professional e-Sports players can participate". The second is to get e-Sports recognized as an actual sport. And third, to create unique intellectual property rights.

Alibaba's investment includes a $5.5 million prize pool for an upcoming tournament, the World Electronic Sports Games－a Shanghai-based multigame e-Sports tournament run by AliSports.

AliSports has also partnered with Singapore-listed e-commerce company YuuZoo to host similar events in six Southeast Asian markets－Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Alibaba's competitor, Tencent, also recently announced it will host more than 600 e-Sports competitions, and produce more games suitable for professional competition. Tencent, which develops games, has a fair amount of motivation to develop the space.

Government support

In addition, e-Sports is generally gaining the support of authorities. In China, for example, the General Administration of Sport of China says it would work actively on the registration of professional gamers.

Even without prize money, professional e-Sports athletes are already getting paid handsomely, sometimes even more than athletes in less mainstream sports.

"Pro-gamers, I'm saying top pro-gamers here, they earn a lot of money. Top gamers make the same amount as baseball players in South Korea, an incredibly popular game," says IeSF's Lim.

Depending on the game, professional players can earn a minimum of $50,000 per year and for the best of the best, the sky is the limit.

"This is without factoring the money they make on the side from being on TV commercials, advertisements. It is exactly like sports," says Lim.

For non-gamers, it may be hard to wrap one's head around why someone would pay to watch someone playing games. But to many, eSports is another way of life－and a lucrative one, if you are good enough to compete among other top gamers.

"E-Sports brings the best and most talented players together to showcase playing the games at the highest level," says Chan from Hong Kong Esports.

For some, he adds, e-Sports may be a form of escape, though different people play for different reasons. Some do it because of a love for the game itself or a desire to prove their prowess in the spirit of competition. For others it may be a way for them to socialize with people who have similar interests.

For Wang, owner of Prometheus Capital, e-Sports is not always easy to explain. "It might be a way of escape," he says.

"But the real electronic sports are not an escape. When you're competing, it's no longer an escape."