Explosive growth has turned competitive video gaming into an increasingly professional sport, with a youthful, ever-growing fan base that appeals to sponsors and advertisers. South Korea is a leading power in eSports and in a brand new, 10-storey building in Seoul’s expensive Gangnam district, dozens of T1’s professional and budding gamers train, following a routine similar to mainstream sports. It has proved a successful model: T1 are three-times League Of Legends world champions, and according to esportsearnings.com are the world number one for overall prize money, with around US$7.1mil (RM29.34mil). More than 100 million fans tuned into the 2019 League of Legends World Championships online. “eSports audiences average much younger than traditional sports, which tends to be an attractive segment,” Remer Rietkerk, Newzoo’s head of Esports, told AFP.

Source: The Star March 24, 2021 08:04 UTC