Rise of the virtual athletes
Fans cram into stadiums while millions of ardent online viewers cheer on the avatars of geeky young stars duking it out on the screens. Welcome to the world of esports. reports.
Ar ound 20,000 seats in Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles are taking a pounding from crazy fans. Four huge screens are erected on the stage in the round like a crystal cube, with one of the world’s highest-paid DJs in the center. The screens light up with animated unearthly creatures and the crowd goes frantic.
The stadium, home to two famous National Basketball Association (NBA) teams — the Los Angeles Lakes and the Los Angeles Clippers —is being taken over by another competitive activity that inspires fanatical devotion — electronic sports, or to use its trendy moniker, esports.
World-class players of League of Legends (LOL), undoubtedly one of the world’s most popular and topgrossing online battle video games, has captured the hearts of 43 million unique viewers, with a peak concurrent viewership of 14.7 million worldwide in the final of 2016 LOL World Championship on Oct 29, 2016. Two teams from South Korea, with members aged around 20, fought for the world championship via their avatars. They didn’t even have to try that hard to impress their die-hard fans — no fancy moves, at least in the real world. Standing with slightly stooped posture, the teenagers fueled the global adulation simply by flashing geeky smiles and offering slightly awkward waves to the audience.
The esports athletes are the poster boys for its sudden rise. What was a solitary activity found in the dark corners of internet cafes, viewed suspiciously as an indulgence to be kept an eye on by some, has blossomed into an undeniably sophisticated, multiplayer open sport that has the potential to suck in the entire post1980 internet generation.
Hong Kong has been relatively slow in catching up, despite esports’ burgeoning popularity in South Korea and the Chinese mainland, the world’s leaders in the field. It was not until February that Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po for the first time used the term “esports” in official documents, recognizing it as “a form of international sports competition” with “economic development potential”. The government tasked Cyberport with exploring the further promotion of esports in Hong Kong.
Confronted with the huge market potential, Man Kin-fung, CEO of Global Esports, a local esports company that owns the city’s first female esports team PandaCute, decided to take a headlong dive into the ballooning industry. Man says the rapid growth of esports reminds him of when Facebook first emerged. Man acquired a South Korean live-broadcasting platform. Through that acquisition, he became acquainted with a teenage girl nicknamed Deer, who brought him into the esports world. Deer, a LOL enthusiast, wanted to build a female team to join a LOL match hosted by a local internet cafe. Man became the catalyst for Deer to realize her dream, helping her team win its first local title.
All work and all play
The five teenage girls quickly got used to the life of being professional esports athletes. All too aware, like most Hong Kong youth, of Hong Kong’s strained land supply and high rent, PandaCute members approach their new role as a full-time job. Though dedicated, their routine is mild compared to some other countries and regions where esports teams are sent to boot camps to train, live in dormitories and remain cut off from the world before they make their debut — just like budding pop stars.
The girls go to the office at around 10 am. They play esports on their own in the morning and then begin group training in the afternoon, including a team battle. Following this, they will review their strategies and failures during the battle. They usually call it a day at around 6 pm — sometimes 8 pm if they get carried away. “I want to build a healthy image of the esports player to combat the traditional misunderstanding of staying up all night playing video games immoderately,” Man said.
Talking about esports obviously excites the 30-something “big kid”, whose eyes sparkled as he diligently briefed China Daily on esports’ success and prospects for the future.
It is proverbial that esports play- ers’ professional career is short-lived, with body reflexes said to be too dulled by the time they reach 25. But Man noted there are future prospects for players who retire. Esports has spawned a bonanza, leading to a fullfledged industry chain to support its derivative roles.
“They could be trainers, managers and anchors that host online live-broadcasting shows and explain games, game consultants, manage esports teams, and so on,” Man said, though he added that just as in physical sports, athletes are not guaranteed a bright future after retirement.
The tech-based nature of esports also promises continuing growth, and unlike traditional sports it can reach remote regions and involve ever more people. “I can foresee that in the near future, people will watch the LOL world tournament with Virtual Reality (VR) glasses and a 4D experience,” Man predicted.
Dawn of a new era
But Man candidly admitted that esports has not fully taken shape in Hong Kong, with the ecosystem still incomplete — despite the high-speed development globally.
Esports has made its name worldwide. In 2003, China listed esports as an official sport; it has taken off ever since and had a market vallue of 40 billion yuan ($5.9 billion) in 2016. Viewership of gaming matches in China has grown to 170 million, making up more than half of the total esports viewers worldwide. Esports will be an official medal sport at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou after being added as a demonstration sport at the 2018 Asian Games, the Olympic Council of Asia announced in April.
The world has been wowed by the rapid development. According to Newzoo, a research and consulting firm on esports, by the end of 2017 there will be nearly 190 million people taking up jobs relating to esports. Global profits from the sector should surpass $1 billion in 2019 — more than double the figure for 2015.
With optimism spurred by the SAR government’s unprecedented move to list esports in official documents, Man suggested the government should make an even bolder move and set up qualification accreditation courses and scholarships for young aspirants to seek training in South Korea and on the Chinese mainland.
“The coming three years will mark a key juncture for Hong Kong to translate esports into a solid, profitmaking, fully fledged industry,” Man said.
Man was not exaggerating or being over-optimistic. This year, Beijing National Stadium, aka the Bird’s Nest, will make history by hosting the 2017 LOL World Championship, the seventh LOL tournament, on Nov 4. Playoff games will be held separately in Wuhan, Shanghai and Guangzhou starting from September. The geographical proximity will almost certainly guarantee a flood of media coverage from across the border.
Hong Kong has picked up the signal, but it lacks a developed platform to nurture the city’s game lovers who are itching to have a go as profes- sional players. Hong Kong doesn’t have its own professional gaming matches to provide constant battle experiences for local players. This is also why Hong Kong’s top player Kurtis Lau Wai-kin, better known for his in-game name Toyz, had to join the Taipei Assassins esports team. He was the first Hong Kong player to win the LOL world title after his team raked in $1 million in prize money after a duke-out with a South Korean team in Los Angeles in October 2012.
It also inspired Asian’s former best amateur game player Ryan Chow to fork out HK$2 million of his savings — earned from his advertising company — to start esports company Cyber Games Arena (CGA) with two partners, to provide an esports platform for local players and even players abroad.
Going for gold
Long before esports was recognized as a sport, there was an earlier incarnation of the phenomenon in Hong Kong. This was in the early 2000s, when internet cafes popped up everywhere in places like Causeway Bay, recalled Ryan Chow, president of E-Sports Association Hong Kong.
According to the government, the number of internet cafes has reduced by two-thirds from more than 300 in 2002 to only 100 in 2014. Back when they were in Form 1, Chow and his gaming friends were frequent visitors of internet cafes, despite the HK$50 an hour charge. Though they won an amateur Asian tournament when they were in Form 3, they had no way to go further and had to shelve their dreams. But the love for gaming never went away. The trio decided to establish their own esports company in 2013.
In a groundbreaking move, CGA forged ahead with Hong Kong’s first E-Sports Festival in 2015 by partnering up with Hong Kong Computer and Communications Festival, a pilgrimage event for geeks and tech enthusiasts. A HK$100,000 prize pool was offered for esports matches onsite.
The second E-Sports Festival in August 2016, which was heavily spon- sored by tech companies, attracted at least 80,000 visits during the four-day computer fair and created a muchneeded ripple of excitement for the already lackluster tech fair. But nothing comes easy. CGA had to start from scratch — finding sponsors, suitable kits for live-broadcasting, venues, and so on.
Esports is picking up in Hong Kong, but the pace is still not comparable with that of its neighboring regions in Asia Pacific, which represent 47 percent of the $99.6 billion global games market, as revealed in Newzoo’s report.
And more sizable investments are expected in the mainland, with Tencent, the leading player in the gaming industry, building a gaming complex with a gaming university, a cultural and creative park, an animation park and a creative neighborhood in the city of Wuhan, Hubei province.
Still, Hong Kong has the potential to make esports work, due to the city’s easy access in visa formality, speed of internet, language advantages, and resources and experience in hosting international events. Chow is a strong believer in this, proposing Hong Kong should host international esports games. In the meantime, the SAR should beef up its efforts to cultivate esports talents by changing the social atmosphere, Chow said.
In fact, in August, the city will host an esports carnival in central harbor front to attract visitors worldwide. This will be the first such esports open event held by the government.
The Asian Games in 2022 will be a huge opportunity for the SAR to establish a footing in the esports realm if it can send a local team to compete, Chow said.
Echoing Chow, Man said Guangzhou and Hong Kong, as key cities in the Greater Bay Area, can team up in consolidating the esports industry.
“We have resources, talents and the Chinese mainland has land and venues to host esports matches in the Greater Bay Area. It is like when a river is formed when water comes,” Man said.
We have resources, talents and the Chinese mainland has land and venues to host esports matches in the Greater Bay Area. It is like when a river is formed when water comes.”