More of the mainstream sports world has come to accept e-sports, but as it debuted this week at the Southeast Asian Games, the Holy Grail — Olympic recognition — remains stubbornly out of reach.
A much-hyped launch in Manila, starring rows of gamers in matching tracksuits and headphones, marked the first time that competitive gaming has been a medal event at an Olympic-recognized multi-sport competition.
Yet, the Olympic movement has made clear that it is “premature” to discuss embracing the “commercially driven” pursuit, and there is no indication that that is about to change.
Photo: AP
Gaming industry chiefs and experts see a lack of organization — there is no unified world governing body — and a generational divide as the obvious stumbling blocks.
“We need people representing the athletes and the countries should get involved,” said Tan Min-liang, CEO of Razer, the gaming hardware company putting on the SEA Games e-sports competition.
“I think this should be something that’s representative of the entire industry,” he said.
A number of different organizations or companies are the driving forces in a business that one industry report estimates is to bring in US$1 billion in revenue this year.
Key to that flow of cash is a massive worldwide audience that is expected to top 450 million people this year.
Despite the huge numbers involved, the business-first nature of e-sports — and the question of whether leisure gaming is a sport at all — has made the Olympic movement cautious.
Elsewhere, gaming seemed to have notched a win with the announcement that e-sports would be part of the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
However, e-sports was not included on the eventual list of 37 sports due to be contested in Hangzhou.
Gaming industry consultant Tyler Sycamore sees the barrier for e-sports as generational and said that the Olympics need to catch up.
“Especially if you are the Olympics, you should be caring about the younger generation because your viewers are all dying off,” he said. “That’s the state of the world.”
For the players in Manila, where competition included six games — Mobile Legends, Arena of Valor, Dota 2, Starcraft II, Tekken 7, and Hearthstone — commercial aspects were secondary to national pride.
Singapore’s Marcus Lee, who is competing in Arena of Valor, said that he was “honored” to be taking part in the SEA Games.
“We do have competitions where we compete for a prize pool,” the 24-year-old said. “For this one, it will be different. It will be more for the glory and the honor of bringing home a medal for our own country.”
Around him, a cheer erupts every couple of minutes from one of the rows of PCs and the players exchange high fives. Jeremiah Camarillo, representing Philippines at Arena of Valor, echoed Lee’s pride.
“This time around we’re representing the country and it is bigger than us — it is beyond us — so it’s not just playing for money,” the 27-year-old said. “It’s playing for the honor of your country,” he added.
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