E-sports should be touted
Twenty-six-year-old Chen Wei-lin (陳威霖) from the Taiwanese e-sports team Flash Wolves defeated his US competitor in the tournament final of the fourth Hearthstone World Championship on Sunday, becoming the first Taiwanese player ever to win the online collectible card video game. Soon after Chen’s win, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) congratulated him on her official Facebook page. Yet this is not the first time a Taiwanese has won first prize in e-sports competitions.
Back in 2001, Tseng Jeng-cheng (曾政承), with a maturity beyond his tender age, became the champion of Age of Empires II: the Conquerors in the World Cyber Games hosted by South Korea. In Taiwan this victory hardly made a ripple.
By contrast, the South Korean player, Kang Byung-geon, who Tseng defeated that year, was offered a university place and made a lot of money through endorsement contracts, on top of receiving a hero’s welcome. During an interview in 2012, Tseng said that he had to work as a delivery person with a salary of NT$30,000 to support himself.
“The government never paid much attention to us and winning a world championship does not necessarily secure a job in real life,” Tseng said.
The sky is the limit for e-sports. While MLB competitions in the US got viewing figures of 24 million worldwide, and the NBA 18 million, last year, the World Championship for the online game League of Legends held at about the same time was watched by 27 million. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that e-sports is one of the world’s most popular sports.
When it was going through a recession, South Korea was willing to take a gamble on the gaming industry and invested resources into e-sports, eventually receiving tangible returns from the virtual world of video gaming. E-sports culture and its industry have become one of South Korea’s major exports.
In Taiwan, the government has, in the past few years, started taking an interest in e-sports, creating an integrated policy approach to helping e-sports players navigate legal issues and obligations in terms of military service and schooling. If gaming does take off here, it may be another opportunity for the nation.
Taiwan needs more asset-light industries to add to its quiver, areas in which it can excel and set its sights on the global market. Perhaps e-sports will become a major export for Taiwan in the future and create a Taiwan frenzy in other countries.
Shih Mao-teng
Taichung
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