Global esports

Transformation of Cultural Perceptions of Competitive Gaming

Dal Yong Jin, Dal Yong Jin

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781501368769
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Media Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

Global esports explores the recent surge of esports in the global scene and comprehensively discusses people's understanding of this spectacle. By historicizing and institutionalizing esports, the contributors analyze the rapid growth of esports and its implications in culture and digital economy. Dal Yong Jin curates a discussion as to why esports has become a global phenomenon. From games such as Spacewar to Starcraft to Overwatch, a key theme, distinguishing this collection from others, is a potential shift of esports from online to mobile gaming. The book addresses why many global game players and fans play and enjoy online and mobile games in professional game competitions, and therefore, they investigate the manner in which the transfer to, from and between online and mobile gaming culture is occurring in a specific subset of global youth. The remaining focus identifies the major platforms used to enjoy esports, including broadcasting and smartphones. By analyzing these unexamined or less-discussed agendas, this book sheds light on the current debates on the growth of global esports culture.

1

Introduction

Esports

Dal Yong Jin

Esports is everywhere. From college campuses and big cities around the globe to media, both traditional and new media, esports has expanded its popularity and influenced people’s cultural activities. As digital games themselves become one of the largest cultural industries in terms of export, number of users, and employees, esports has been a global phenomenon. Esports, referring to an electronically mediated sport and the leagues in which players compete through networked games and related activities (Jin, 2010), has existed since the early 1970s—as a form of competitive digital gaming—when some American students gathered at computer labs to do battle among the stars. These students “piloted ships through a speck-filled void, shooting missiles and dancing against gravity in one of the world’s first video games, Spacewar,” which was played on the Programmed Data Processor-1 created by a group of students at MIT (Li, 2016, 1). Of course, after the emergence of several esports leagues, such as the Professional Gamers League (PGL) founded around 1997 and the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) formed in the United States in 1997 (Taylor, 2012), contemporary esports arguably started in Korea as it began to develop its esports league in the field of online gaming in 1998 as StarCraft became popular in the country.

About twenty years after the emergence of esports in Korea, esports has already become one of the most significant cultures for global youth and business models for many venture capitals and mega media giants. In Korea, esports has continued as a major sports event and symbol of ICT (information and communication technology)-driven digital economy. Reflecting the popularity of esports in Korea, Tyler Erzberger—an esports reporter—on ESPN tweeted a very interesting story titled “The Elite 4 of South Korea,” and he included Bong Joon-ho (the director of Parasite who won four Oscar awards in February 2020), Son Heung-min (a soccer player who plays in the UK), BTS (a seven-member K-pop boy band), and Lee Sang-hyeok, better known by his in-game name Faker (a Korean professional League of Legends player) (https://twitter.com/FionnOnFire/status/1226683987151740930) as four elites in contemporary Korean society. The inclusion of a professional game player is not surprising at all due to the high acceptance of esports as a major cultural norm.

Since the early twenty-first century, esports has rapidly become globally popular, and many esports leagues have emerged (Hutchins, 2008). Due to the soaring popularity, several universities in the United States (e.g., Ohio State University, the University of North Texas, and the University of California at Irvine), Canada, France, Turkey, China, and Korea have established esports-related academic programs, esports arenas in campus, and esports clubs. Esports games in various campuses are not unusual as many students play digital games for fun, recognition, and money. Several big cities around the world, including Los Angeles and Philadelphia in the United States, Seoul in Korea, and Beijing in China, have constructed esports arenas for digital game competitions (Bloom, 2019). The increased attention toward the activity in the twenty-first century has signaled that “the gaming industry is adopting more flexible avenues of public event consumption with the goal of generating higher profit margins” (Borowy and Jin, 2013, 2254). In particular, in the late 2010s, as “competition has always been a central part of video games” (Li, 2016, 2), many global youth enjoy global competition primarily with online gaming, followed by mobile gaming. The phenomenal growth of esports and related gaming activities and cultures around the globe over the past two decades clearly indicates the characteristics of social and cultural understanding of esports.

More importantly, network broadcasters and cable channels, which previously did not broadcast esports, have jumped on the esports bandwagon. For example, once it launched its own esports vertical on ESPN.COM in January 2016, ESPN has continued to develop esports programs. As one of the most recent media involvements, the Overwatch League has been broadcasted on ESPN; however, in March 2019 the semifinals and grand finals on ABC were the league’s network television debuts, which is unprecedented. According to Nielsen, the Overwatch League grand finals, aired on ABC on March 24, managed to pull in 367,000 viewers. This seemed like a small viewership compared to the other sporting events broadcasted on the network. Considering this was the League’s network debut, however, the numbers proved the popularity of the Overwatch League, and in general esports (Simmonds, 2019). Prior to this, in June 2016, European broadcaster Sky, ITV, and gaming company Ginx TV announced the launch of a 24-hour esports channel, Ginx eSports TV (Barraclough, 2016). Game streaming services like Twitch have also played a key role in the growth of esports since the early 2010s.

Likewise, esports involves various cultural and economic dimensions, and esports must be comprehended as a more complex process than other sports, emphasizing the connection between sport, technology, and media. For example, the convergence of online games with digital media has two different levels of integration: one is the integration “between electronic gaming and sport” and the other is “between electronic gaming and digital media, which is convergence between culture and business” (Jin, 2010, 61). As Jenkins (2006) points out, media convergence denotes the technological integration that powers new media and distinctive new media forms. The outcome is the growth of esports spectatorship, of course. Esports has indeed become a global sensation that attracts thousands of spectators to live events held at arenas and other venues around the world:

People are realizing hundreds of millions of influential, affluent kids are spending a huge amount of time and money on esports. In 50 or 60 years, people are going to look back at esports and recognize the same kind of cultural shift. For TV and video programmers, the challenge of catching and keeping the attention of young millennials has never been greater than in today’s multiplatform, thousand-channel world. (Tribbey, 2016, 12)

In the early twenty-first century, competitive player-versus-player digital game play has been a heavily promoted feature of overall gamer culture. Global youth, ranging from mid-teens to mid-twenties, have participated in esports as either professional players or fans in the age of digital media. For them, esports is one of the most significant youth cultures to follow, while many ICT corporations, including game firms, telecommunications companies, new media, and advertisers have leveraged esports as one of their most lucrative businesses.

The Growth of Esports in the Digital Age

Esports has continued to grow as people enjoy digital games, such as console, online, and mobile games. The digital game market has consequently increased over the past two decades, which is not a cottage house industry anymore. In 2018, esports captured the attention of nearly 395 million viewers worldwide, and that is expected to surge to roughly 646 million viewers by 2023, according to a report from Newzoo (2020). Of those 646 million projected viewers, 351 million will identify as “occasional viewers” and 295 million will consider themselves esports enthusiasts. The rapid growth of esports spectatorship means growth of the esports market.

According to PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2018), esports revenues totaled $805 million in 2018, with the largest portion coming from sponsorships ($277 million), followed by media rights ($181 million) and streaming advertisements ($163 million). As such, esports has continued its rapid growth with soaring revenues and increasing audiences and players across the globe since the early twenty-first century. Newzoo (2020) predicts that esports revenue will be as much as $1.56 billion in 2023. That is greater than American Football and rugby combined (Ayles, 2019). As audiences grow, so do expectations. Esports viewers want to be able to watch their favorite teams, players, and tournaments on any screen, at any time—and this will push profitability (Koch, 2019).

Esports has been a global phenomenon; however, most of the attention thus far has focused on North America and Asia, the two largest esports markets. By region, Asia-Pacific leads the global esports markets and is projected to capture the largest market share. As Paul Verna explains, “the U.S. is a natural growth opportunity for esports because of the strong gaming culture here, the ties between gaming and sports, and the country’s natural inclination toward competitive endeavors. The same is true of Western European markets, particularly the U.K., Germany, and France” (Koch, 2019). However, esports is not only for the Global North, because several countries in the Global South like Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia are actively developing their own esports and relevant activities. As one of the recent esports leagues, Africa Esports Championship (AEC) has been created with the aim of organizing world class esports across Africa since 2019. Currently, the AEC has about twenty-four participating countries that are running national leagues in various games. For the AEC, FIFA 19—a football simulation video game—and Tekken 7—a fighting game—are two major games (Ogeto, 2019).

Likewise, Latin America has developed esports teams and tournaments, including Latin American League. They don’t seem to gain as much attention as tournaments in other regions do, although they are very active. For example, in 2019, the Latin American League achieved new records—a larger audience than ever before, and a much higher level of competitive play.

Mexico is the largest market in Latin America, with roughly $1.8 million in revenue, followed by Brazil with $1.6 million. Other countries such as Argentina, Chile, and Colombia are close behind (esports.net, 2019). This is seemingly small, compared to North America and Asia. What is important is that underdeveloped countries in Latin America and Africa have rapidly advanced esports and relevant activities.

Meanwhile, Southeast Asia, comprising Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Taiwan, projects huge growth in the esports market. The number of online gamers alone is expected to rise from 154.3 million in 2019 to 186.8 million in 2023. Mobile gaming is also a big part of the Southeast Asian market. As of 2019, 40 percent of the 500 million smartphone owners play mobile games. While China, Korea, and the United States are considered the powerhouses of esports, there are plenty of other countries with a massive investment in the esports culture (Worrall, 2019). This implies that, in the 2020s, esports is global in scope, and the popularity of esports as both youth culture and new business will continue to grow.

Literature Review on Esports

Over the last two decades, people have witnessed a dramatic expansion of esports in every corner of the world. As a result of this phenomenon, many media scholars, game scholars, and cultural anthropologists have developed their ideas. Several existing books and articles address terrain similar to what will be covered in this book. Unlike practical guidebooks, commonly talking about “how to become esports players,” “how to become esports broadcasters,” and “how to win esports games,” several academic works, mentioned later, seriously discussed esports based on research from various perspectives. As discussed, esports has had a long history. Up until the mid-2010s, there was little academic work on esports; however, we have seen signs of that changing in recent years, as several game scholars have started to pay attention to esports and relevant areas, including professional gamers and new media. While it is still limited, there are a handful of book-length academic works.

To begin with, in her new book Watch Me Play: Twitch and the Rise of Game Live Streaming, T. L. Taylor (2018) took a close look at the revolution in game live streaming and esports broadcasting focusing on Twitch as thousands of people broadcast their gaming live to audiences over the internet using popular sites like Twitch. She also attempted to find answers to “what happens when people began to transform private play into public entertainment and an emerging media form of network broadcasting arises” (p. 22). Roland Li (2017), in his book titled Good Luck Have Fun: The Rise of Esports, addressed esports as one of the fastest growing industries in the world and argues that a confluence of technology, culture, and determination has made this possible. Li explored the players, companies, and games that have made it to the new major leagues. T. L. Taylor (2012) previously examined pro-gaming, with its highly paid players, play-by-play broadcasts, and mass audience, and therefore, discussed whether or not esports should even be considered sports. She also discussed the importance of leagues, teams, owners, organizers, referees, sponsors, and fans in shaping the structure and culture of pro-gaming.

Focusing on the business side of esports, Tobias Scholz (2019) discussed esports management, industry, and business models, while addressing the early history of...