SINGAPORE: It would not be just gaming developers and publishers who will benefit when gamescom asia makes its Singapore debut in October 2020, said industry experts. Professional gaming, or e-sports, could also take off, they added.
Future growth will be driven by the region’s relatively young, mobile-savvy population, and as more people gain access to the Internet.Singapore events management company Zenway Productions has been organising e-sports and gaming events since 2016. Its portfolio ranges from events held in shopping malls, to Blizzard Entertainment’s Southeast Asia tournaments for Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch.
To that end, local sports media firm Orientivity is looking to develop the technical abilities of its staff by learning from Touch Video Live Broadcast, a Chinese production company that broadcasts the Chinese Super League. Bountie is an online platform for casual gamers to play against each other and get paid when they win. It attracted more than 11,000 users on the platform in just three months - more than half of which are from Indonesia. And it hopes to have a million users globally by the end of the year.Bountie told CNA that league managers in France and Indonesia have expressed interest in using the platform to organise minor leagues and tournaments.
“Let's stick with Counter-Strike, I honestly believe it's the best sport to watch,” says Mr Reichert. “It has action every 90 seconds, something relevant is happening... The way some of these e-sports are built is much closer to how youth and our brains function these days, how the world works. So I just believe, on a pure entertainment level… a lot of these e-sports are better to watch than any of these sports have ever been.