Asian Culture's Impact On Esports

Gaming culture and goverment support, Betbazar's assessment of the importance of components

With the Asian market now reportedly accounting for around half of all esports revenue globally, iGaming Gazette caught up with BETBAZAR COO, Max Sevostianov, to learn how a deep-rooted gaming culture and strong government support has helped the increasingly popular vertical flourish in the region.

When discussing the future of iGaming and the areas in which ambitious operators can possibly gain an edge, I’ve contributed to numerous articles stating my belief that the esports sector has the potential to become one of the biggest revenue drivers for businesses over the coming years.

In the past decade alone, the up-and-coming vertical has gained significant traction in a number of established markets, with greater media exposure, bigger tournaments and richer prize pools driving mainstream interest in what was once considered – at best – to be a niche betting industry.

However, while the majority of the iGaming world is only now starting to wake up to the huge commercial possibilities that the sustained promotion of esports can bring, one region where this has long since been the case is Asia; a market where esports is not so much considered a specialist betting product as it is a multi-billion dollar industry and – for many – even a way of life.

Indeed, with recent figures suggesting the Asian market now accounts for roughly 50% of all esports revenue globally, it’s certainly worth taking a look at the underlying factors that have contributed to this dominance. By doing so, we can gain a better understanding of how a perfect storm of demographic, technological and cultural elements have allowed the industry to flourish.

Starting out with the obvious, the Asian gambling audience is huge. The region’s biggest market by far is China, which – as of 2022 – boasted a population of approximately 1.41 billion. Of these, around 400,000,000 are believed to be esports enthusiasts – and if we then throw in other major players like Japan and South Korea, we can see no other market on the planet even comes close.

Of course, having this vast potential audience is one thing, but if you don’t have the technological infrastructure in place to capitalise on it, it ultimately counts for very little. This, however, is not an issue in the Asian market, where the majority of customers have access to high-speed internet and the widescale adoption of mobile gaming has played a key role in expanding the community.

Perhaps even more important than those two basic factors, though, is the way that esports are viewed in the region. There is a deeply-rooted gaming culture in Asia that dates back to the 1980s, when countries like China, Japan and South Korea were all pioneers in the development and popularisation of videogames – and this has had a big impact on how esports are perceived today.

Even before the term “esports” had been popularised throughout the rest of the world, competitive gaming in Asia was seen not just as an entertainment, but a legitimate career path. In the late 1990s, the popularity of Blizzard Entertainment’s real-time strategy game, Starcraft, exploded in South Korea, with professional players such as Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier enjoying the kind of celebrity status that was typically reserved for international athletes and sports stars.

I think the significance of this bears repeating, as even with the rise of global esports coverage we’ve experienced over the past few years, it’s still hard for the western mind to comprehend just how big the Starcraft boom actually was. We’re talking large-scale, made-for-TV events that were attended by thousands and broadcast to countless more, high production values and state-of-the-art sets plus legions of screaming fans who all turned out to cheer for their favourite players.

The impact that all this hype and mania ultimately went on to have on the Asian esports industry was two-fold – on the one hand, it helped establish competitive gaming as a valid profession that people either wanted to participate in or follow vicariously, and on the other, it garnered interest from governments and the private sector, who wanted to be involved in promoting future events.

The upshot of this was that it legitimised the sector in Asia long before the rest of the world had caught on to its potential and helped establish esports competitions as being every bit as serious as their “real sports” counterparts. And why not? After all, just like in any other competitive sport, the majority of esports require you to train extensively, collaborate with your co-players and understand the specific strengths and weaknesses of the team in order to form a winning strategy.

I really do believe that in breaking down these barriers between what constitutes a sport and what constitutes an esport, the Asian market has created an environment in which interest in the sector can thrive and grow. When you treat esports events every bit as seriously as other competitions, viewer – and subsequently, bettor – attention will follow, as your audience will know what they’re watching and wagering on is being fairly overseen and backed by reliable data.

The importance of this last point is something I always stress if we ever want to see the popularity of esports throughout the rest of the world come anywhere near to approaching the success it’s already enjoying in Asia. The bigger the industry gets and the more attention it receives from global iGaming audiences, the greater the need for official data providers will be – and it’s vital that operators work with them to give bettors the fairest and most accurate experience possible.

I think we’ve already seen many of the more progressive operators – that is to say, those who recognise that esports will play a key role in the future of iGaming – embrace this fact; and over time I would hope that this coupled with stronger industry interest and promotion will help pave the way to creating an esports environment in other markets more akin to what we’ve seen in Asia.

For sure, the rest of the world still has some way to go before this happens, but it’s my firm belief that the markets and operators who step up their esports efforts will be the ones that enjoy the most successful growth over the coming years, whereas those generating revenue purely on real sports betting and ignoring this rapidly evolving sector will simply be leaving money on the table.