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.
NO HARD FEELINGS: Taiwan’s Lin Hsiang-ti and Indonesia’s Dhinda Amartya Pratiwi embraced after fighting to a tense and rare 30-29 final game in their Uber Cup match The Taiwanese men’s team on Wednesday fought back from the brink of elimination to defeat Denmark in Group C and advance to the quarter-finals of the Thomas Cup, while the women’s team were to face South Korea after press time last night in the Uber Cup quarter-finals in Horsens, Denmark. In the first match, Taiwan’s top shuttler Chou Tien-chen faced a familiar opponent in world No. 3 Anders Antonsen. It was their 16th head-to-head matchup, with the Dane taking his fourth victory in a row against former world No. 2 Chou, winning 21-14, 13-21, 21-15 in 1 hour, 22 minutes. The
Marta Kostyuk’s maiden WTA 1000 title in Madrid came on Saturday thanks to her power, poise and a pair of unexpected lucky shorts. The world No. 23 beat eighth-ranked Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 in under 90 minutes to secure the most prestigious trophy of her career, her third professional singles title and second in less than a month after Rouen. Yet as the 23-year-old Ukrainian posed for photographs at the Caja Magica, it was not just the silverware that caught the eye. Held alongside her team and her two dogs, Kostyuk showed off a piece of black men’s underwear, prompting
Throwing more than US$5 billion at a divisive new tour and walking away after five seasons does not look like good business, but LIV Golf was not all bad news for Saudi Arabia. Oil-funded LIV, which poached top stars and sent golf’s establishment into a tailspin, helped push the conservative kingdom into global view — one of its key aims, experts said. The exit, confirmed on Thursday after weeks of speculation, does not signal a flight of Saudi money from sport, even after the Middle East war that sparked Iranian attacks around the Gulf, they said. “Saudi Arabia is not
Anastasia Potapova on Wednesday turned tennis heartbreak into history by becoming the first lucky loser to reach a WTA 1000 semi-final with her thrilling 6-1, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 victory over Karolina Pliskova at the Madrid Open, as Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei exited in the women’s doubles quarter-finals. The Russian-born Austrian, who lost in qualifying last week, has capitalized on her unexpected main draw entry and stunned former world No. 1 Pliskova in a roller-coaster clash despite squandering three match points. Potapova’s run has included impressive victories over former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and world No. 2 Elena Rybakina. Asked if she had thought
RSS