SINGAPORE, June 12 — Like many other parents, Ms Jolene Poh’s folks were initially concerned when she became interested in gaming in primary school since it might affect her studies.
Almost in tandem, Singapore, too, is making strides in becoming a choice destination for top-tier e-sports tournaments. The economic opportunities presented by the industry has certainly not gone unnoticed. Responding to TODAY's queries, Ms Ong Ling Lee, executive director for sports and wellness at the Singapore Tourism Board , said: “With Singapore’s growing reputation as an e-sports destination, we continue to attract gaming companies with regional ambitions to Singapore."
Capitalising on these strengths, they said, would help grow the Singapore's e-sports industry and at the same time, provide a boost to the tourism sector which is making up for lost ground after two barren years. Meanwhile, for games with smaller following — which would lead to lower viewership numbers and thus less advertising revenue — TODAY understands that athletes can earn anything between a few hundreds to below S$2,000.
Mr Wong Jeng Yih, or “nutz” — who had played alongside Mr Reitmeier and Mr Koh in 2016 when the latter set up Team Faceless — reportedly earned over US$230,000 in prize money before he announced his retirement last year. Team Faceless disbanded in July 2017.Mr Reitmeier recalled his competitive days, when weeks or months leading up to competitions would include routines that encompassed physical exercise and game practice sessions.
“They shouldn't be playing 10 hours a day and just forget about school and all that. That's not how you become an e-sports athlete, that is more like casual gaming,” he said. While the developments have opened up opportunities for some to turn gaming into a serious career, it also means that in the bigger picture, countries are sitting up and eyeing a slice of a increasingly lucrative pie.
League of Legends players compete at Hyperplay, an e-sports tournament held in Singapore, August 4, 2018. Singapore's investment in building up a strong digital infrastructure has been key to attracting major e-sports events here, thereby allowing it to leverage the positive trends in the industry, said some experts. — Reuters pic
“Most of them will use overseas production people because one of the key things is they already have a relationship with the publishers. And they have the know-how on how things are done,” he said. “They will sometimes use local companies, but not a lot.” The growing e-sports industry in Singapore has led to the setting up of several companies in recent years.
“The vision of ALMGHTY is to be a leading gaming organisation representing Asian faces in global gaming. Within Southeast Asia, Singapore has a strong infrastructure advantage over many of its neighbours when it comes to hosting e-sports tournaments. “But after Covid is over and all the markets open up, I will say most of the publishers will prefer to do it in bigger countries, like Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand,” he said.
Nonetheless, some like Mr Kek from Emerge E-sports, warned that when the bigger neighbours catch up in terms of infrastructure, they will be a force to be reckoned with. Industry associations and players have also been stepping up efforts to enhance interest in e-sports among the wider community. Scoga for example has set up an E-sports Academy to engage and educate youths about the sport.Mr Kek of EMERGE said that about five to 10 years ago, only a handful of major brands would want to sponsor or be related to e-sports events.
Going forward, Mr Sachet of KPMG noted that"markets that are significant players in the e-sports industry usually have a well-established ecosystem supported by the pillars of infrastructure, culture and talent". Instead of focusing efforts on the top e-sports players, he suggested positioning e-sports as something beneficial to youths, similar to conventional sports.
“If we ignore the grassroots level, anything else just becomes a short-term thing that benefits like five people who will move in and out of the e-sports space,” Mr Goh added.