The Asian Games, which began this Sunday September 24 in China, are hosting e-sport competitions for the first time. These popular and lucrative electronic sports meetings will probably be the most watched of these Games.
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With our correspondent, Stéphane Lagarde
Loud music resonates when the teams appear. The Hangzhou eSports Arena is packed to capacity for this first Vietnam-Tajikistan match on Arena of Valor (Honor of King), one of seven games for which the best will be awarded a gold medal. “ I’m a gamer myself and can’t wait to see the athletes compete. It’s the first time that the games have entered the competition, I’ve been dreaming about it for months. », Explains with shining eyes this 32-year-old IT engineer who was impatiently awaiting this meeting.
Demonstration sport in Jakarta in 2018, e-sport enters the competition in Hangzhou in 2023. The most e-sporting country in the world with 490 million practitioners and more than 500,000 jobs linked to the sector, China should dominate this edition with Korea of the South, the other country of sport on screen.
In the meantime, Vietnam is winning… “Triple grounding”, “chaos”, “annihilation”, the words are displayed in large format to highlight the action on the screen. The public is enthusiastic like football. “ I’m very excited because I’m playing this game », says this student who came with her boyfriend, also a total fan. “ This is the first time, we hope that the games will be a global showcase for e-sports. There are a lot of people playing here », wishes this other person.
Forty-six percent of online gaming revenues are made in Asia. Revenues from the sector are expected to reach nearly 176 billion in 2023. China, which recently increased restrictions imposed on minors to limit dependence on screens, has at the same time relaunched approvals of titles proposed by publishers.
This Sunday, September 24, the meetings continued in the Hangzhou e-sports arena transformed into cauldrons by boiling hot fans. Supporters, teams – five players facing each other in tracksuits –, referees, replays or even slow motion: it looks like sport, but it’s not sport, says Johnny, who also accompanies friends. “ For me, it’s friends playing on phones, and it’s not sport “, he declares.
Sport or no sport, for the moment the Olympic authorities have not yet decided, but are closely interested in the 3.4 billion players announced for 2023, who could rejuvenate the Olympic Games.
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