[Digital Times, Kim Soo-yeon] It is pointed out that in Korea less support is repeated despite of the movement to foster e-sports as a sports industry is getting popular in the world. It is possible that the world e-sports market of KRW 1.7 trillion will be offered to the competitors in the current situation.

According to the industry sources on August 7, the e-sports industry is growing rapidly due to `young consumers` and `money`. It is able to promote national recognition and economic growth in connection with tourism and other cultural industries. In fact, according to market research company News, the global e-sports market is expected to grow by more than 40% on annual basis and to grow to KRW 1.70 trillion by 2020. The importance of e-sports is growing as it not only generates direct profits from ticket purchases, but also creates growth in the viewing platform market and new influx of game users.

Therefore, China and the US are actively participating in the recruitment of talented people by constructing a large-scale e-sports town by the government and changing the visa policy. In China, the industry is strategically growing with the adoption of e-sports as a regular sport in the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2022. Recently, Hangzhou City decided to establish an e-sports town of about 1.5 million pyeong. The central government and related enterprises are also planning to establish an e-sports center of 300,000 pyeong in the town and attract more than 1,000 famous enterprises. Anhui Province, China in May, this year, a company signed an agreement with Tencent, the largest Internet company in China to create an e-sports-themed industrial complex.

Meanwhile, the United States has formally issued a sports player visa to e-sports athletes from last year to recruit talent. The existing sports industry is leaping into e-sports investment thanks to the nationally encouraging atmosphere of e-sports. In fact, the NBA (American Basketball Association) has launched the professional game league `NBA 2K e league` aimed at local game makers take-to-interact with the world basketball game users next year.

Domestic e-sports business support budget has been in its place for 3 years in spite of this situation. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has applied for KRW 2.6 billion in e-sports budget next year. It will be the same amount for three years once the Ministry of Strategy and Finance reflects this budget. Considering that about 70% of the budget of KRW 2.68 billion this year is budgeted for conferences, and the budget for e-sports content creation and infrastructure support is only 30% and it will be similar to next year.

An industry expert said, "It is necessary to foster e-sports as a strategic industry. There is a negative opinion on the game and a narrow view of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, which has a lot of money. Another industry expert pointed out, "The budget of KRW 2.6 billion for the mobile game development cost of hundreds of millions of won is insufficient to support the e-sports." He added, "We will be able to respond to the rapidly growing global e-sports market by expanding the industry base not just one-time and one-off policy."

In response, a Ministry of Culture and Tourism official pointed out, "When we go to the e-sports budget, we get a response saying `Why should the government support the e-sports?”

Meanwhile, the direct sales of domestic e-sports is estimated at about KRW 72.3 billion and the direct effect of e-sports (media, conventions, clubs) is KRW 141.1 billion and the value-added effect is KRW 55.4 billion.

By Kim Soo Yeon newsnews@


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