ESports will make its debut at the Asian Games 2022 with medals being awarded in eight games – The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) announced on 8th September 2021.
Esports games in the Asian Games
2 games of Esports were a demonstration event at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. Now, Esports will make its debut at the Asian Games 2022.
The eight medal games are PUBG Mobile (An Asian game version), FIFA (made by EA SPORTS), Arena of Valor (An Asian game version), Dream Three Kingdoms 2, HearthStone and Street Fighter V, DOTA 2 and League of Legends. Two more games – Robot Masters and VR Sports – will be played as demonstration events (a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of a standard medal competition. In other words, medals won by competitors did not count towards the final medal tally) at the 2022 Asian Games.
The Asian Electronic Sports Federation (AESF) will be responsible for the qualifying competition and management at the Asian Games 2022. In conclusion, they will be the technical delegate for esports games.
Names of all Esports Games which will be part of the Asian Games 2022
Medal events list of Esports Games in Asian Games 2022
PUBG Mobile – Asian Game version
League of Legends
HearthStone
Street Fighter V
Dota 2
Dream Three Kingdoms 2
Arena of Valor – Asian Game version
FIFA branded soccer games – EA Sports
Esports demonstration events at Asian Games 2022
1. AESF Robot Masters – Powered by Migu
2. AESF VR Sports – Powered by Migu
Firstly, Esports was added to the Asian Games sports programme at the OCA General Assembly in Muscat, Oman on December 16, 2020. It was a demonstration sport at the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia in 2018, In other words, medals did not count in the official medal rankings.
The Director-General of the OCA, Mr Husain Al-Musallam, said: “We hope that this announcement allows all participating teams ample time to prepare and equip themselves ahead of the qualifying stages. Above all, I believe we have ticked all the right boxes ensuring a high level of competition which promises great viewing for enthusiasts and casuals alike.
“We at the OCA are looking forward to working closely with our friends at the Asian Electronic Sports Federation and the Hangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee to ensure the successful execution of the esports event at the 2022 Asian Games.”
You can read more blogs on esports through this link.
The unique viewer’s forecast has been split into eight key regions. Which include North America, Latin America, West Europe, Central, and East Europe, the Far East and China, the Indian sub-continent, the Rest of Asia Pacific, and Africa & Middle East. The region which contributes the biggest is the Far East and China. Also, We will know about Indian Esports Viewership.
Meanwhile, eSports arrived in the Indian sub-continent later than other western countries and also regions in Asia like China. However, it has been announced as a medal event in the 2022 Asian Games, which is a testimony to its rapid growth in this part of the world.
Indian Esports Viewership
So, In new research, the UK-based Juniper Research has forecasted that unique viewers of eSports (competitive playing of video games) and Let’s Plays content (tutorials and talk-throughs of game content) will reach 858 million by 2022, up from 630 million this year with the Indian sub-continent to being a minority contributor.
U Cypher promoted the first multi-gaming platform on TV for eSports competitions in India. It comes under U Sport. USports is founded by media tycoon turned angel investor Ronnie Screwvala and his partner Supratik Sen.
It’s a platform for talented gamers that helps them achieve their maximum potential as well as shape their careers in e-Sports leagues.
Esports on the rise:-
The eSports audience size in 2018 stood at a considerable 173 million frequent viewers, on top of 222 million occasional viewers. If these figures were not impressive enough, they are forecast to grow even further in the next few years. The enthusiasts are spread across the world, but the Asia Pacific region seems to be a particular hotspot for eSports. In the United States, meanwhile, some 9.2 per cent of internet users in 2019 watched eSports. This figure will be expected to rise to 15.5 per cent by 2023.
The eSports market has boomed in recent years with more and more viewers tuning in to watch their favourite games being played by some of the best gamers in the world. Players can compete against each other, individually or in teams, in multiplayer video game tournaments across the world. According to a 2019 report, eSports viewers on Twitch are estimated to represent 51 per cent of total eSports viewers in 2023, down from 74 per cent compared in 2018.
Esports Viewership of ESL:-
The ESL Pro League is a professional eSports league in which some of the best gamers in the world fight it out in the popular esport. Esport like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. In March 2020, some 146 thousand viewers tuned in to the first day of the ESL Pro League. It’s an increase of 27 per cent on the previous year’s figures. This increase is no doubt partially due to the fact that the world was staying at home. And People are using the internet more frequently as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Which some of the best gamers in the world fight it out in the popular video game, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. In March 2020, arecord 1.4 million hourswere watched on the second day of the competition.
Indian Expert on Indian Esports Viewership:-
One esports expert in India said that “The combined eSports and gaming market is estimated to be Rs 390 billion with more than 2,000 teams consistently participating in tournaments across India and abroad with over 500 million players worldwide. The industry has a number of major tournaments throughout the year with viewership in the tens of millions.
Right now, According to all reports, we can say that, in India, something between 50-60 million viewership right now. It’s increased because of Pubg. After Pubg, Many streamers make a situation and even pubg do the best Marketing till yet in India of esports.
Will pubg (bgmi) unban soon?
Actually, we can’t say anything yet on Unban. But yes, Pubg Mobile Korean Official company gave a statement on its Instagram account that they break the partnership with Tencent for India. Now, Pubgm Korea will have official rights to launch the game in India and collect data from Indian players.
But govt banned the new game BGMI India as well because one Chinese company has some stack in its parent company. Hopefully now Krafton will launch the Indian game without a partnership with a Chinese company.
We can see that the esports industry has huge potential. And in the future, Indian viewership of esports will increase rapidly.
Esports are on the rise worldwide and the rise has been exponential over the past few years. Let me start with an example of one particular game that I have been playing so many times now, Pubg Mobile (PlayerUnknown Battlefield). I started playing Pubg Mobile back in 2018 end, right from the last year of college. I have followed many international tournaments and watched all the big teams play.
To name a few, big tournaments like Pubg Mobile Club Open, Pubg Mobile World League, Pubg Mobile PL, and many tournaments of pubg mobile and the prize money used to be around $850K and $1 million/country in a single tournament.
Esport Set-Up
In 2020, Pubg Mobile Officials announced the launch of a new version(New Era) for Pubg Mobile named “PubgMobile 1.0 new era” and it will be the turning point in history. And now it will be decided that all the tournaments will now have Pubg Mobile New Era. In 2020, the number of tournaments and Prize money was on the rise.
Back then participation is good but still, it has some drawbacks like some teams used hacks at the starting level and pubg failed to stop them yet. They wasted many slots of good teams. There were only a few teams from Europe and South Asia. But now the participation has increased drastically with huge participation from North America and South America with European and American teams still occupying the Top 20 positions.
Now let’s have a look at the prize money of the few tournaments held so far in 2020:
PMWL 2020 SEASON ZERO EAST – $850k million PMWL 2020 SEASON ZERO WEST – $850k million PMCO 2020 – $1 million/country PMPL SOUTH ASIA – $ 200k and the list goes on…….
and the tournament arenas now look like this:
PUBG Mobile League Arena
this
Pubg Mobile Arena
and this
Esports Arena
There are several organizations coming up that function just like sporting clubs in any other sports (such as football clubs in football). They have contracts with players, they sign and release players and sometimes they sign and relieve the whole team (it’s a team of 5-6 that plays), they have now coached to form strategies and a group of analysts working behind them to prepare the players for big matches. and mentally motivate them.
If You want to know about the future of the Indian Esports industry then CLICK HERE.
The salaries of these teams are now offering is more than what big firms and MNCs can offer. Last year 5 players of TSM (Team Solo Mid) decided to leave TSM and form their organization. TSM quickly sent out the notice that they needed a new team and the salary offered would be $10,000 per month plus tournament win bonuses. And This happened in the counter strike, but there are other games as well such as DOTA, Pubg, clash of clans, FIFA, LEAGUE OF LEGENDS, counter strike, etc where the prize money is even more massive.
Now let’s have a look at the prize money of the few tournaments held so far :
Counter-Strike- $10.22 Million
Fortnite – approx $7 Million
DOTA2- $ 5.22 Million
Rainbow 6- Approx $4 Millionand so on…….
And now let’s compare the prize pool of esports with traditional sports:
After the ban on Chinese esports games (Pubg Mobile in 2021, Free Fire & BGMI in 2022) the growth of the esports industry in India is increasing slowly. But hopefully, soon we can see a new BGMI game for the Indian market only without any interface from a Chinese company.
The esports industry has grown faster than anyone could have predicted, the future is bright and so my friends –
THE GAME HAS JUST BEGUN.
Be Pro In This Industry and Grab Big Opportunities.
