On September 8, the official website of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) announced 8 e-sports events selected for the 19th Asian Games in 2022, namely:“King of Glory”, “Heartstone”, “Dream Three Kingdoms 2”, “DOTA2”, “FIFA”, “Peace Elite”, “League of Legends”, “Street Fighter 5”. In addition, there are also two exhibition events, Robot Masters and VR Sport.
The “Daily Economic News” reporter noted that the 8 e-sports competitions selected this time are behind industry leaders such as Tencent, NetEase, and Perfect World. Whenever reporters contact Tencent, Perfect World, NetEase, etc., they want to know more details of e-sports entry into Asia, but these companies all say that they are “waiting for more official news.”
Strengthening the protection of minors is a hot topic in the game industry. Can minors participate in this Asian Games? Every time the reporter called the Hangzhou Asian Games official about this, and sent the interview outline to the relevant person in charge of the game work committee, there was no reply as of the time of publication.
“From a performance event to a formal event, e-sports, as a sport that is almost 20 years old, has its own name. At the same time, it has also increased the appeal of more e-sports events in the future (e-sports Team training, live events and related business development, etc.) will truly become a new blue ocean with commercial value.” said Zhang Shule, an analyst in the game industry.
What signal does the entry of e-sports into Asia send to the industry? Wang Hanhan, general manager of the Gamma Data Division, said: “It represents the concept that mental sports belong to competitive sports and has been initially accepted by various countries. For the industry, this is an emerging wave that has prompted companies that have launched e-sports games to pursue long-term pursuits. For development, companies that have not launched should consider fairness, competition, and appreciation at the beginning of the design, so as to extend the life cycle of game products.”
Image source: Hangzhou Asian Games official website
Can minors participate in the Asian Games e-sports?
With the release of the “most stringent” new rules to prevent minors from indulging in online games, online game companies can only provide services to minors from 20 to 21:00 on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and legal holidays. There are strict restrictions on the time that minors can play online games.
In response to the latest regulations, the e-sports industry, which is closely linked to games, also responded quickly.
Many well-known domestic e-sports events such as KPL King Glory Professional League, PEL Peace Elite Professional League, and LPL League of Legends professional league operator Tengjing Sports have announced that in order to actively respond to the country’s latest policy requirements, they will coordinate the ages of contestants. Regulatory review work,Players must be at least 18 years old to participate in the competition。
Image source: KPL King Glory Professional League Weibo
However, with the “King of Glory”“Heartstone”, “Dream Three Kingdoms 2”, “DOTA2”, “FIFA”, “Peace Elite”, “League of Legends”, “Street Fighter 5” and other e-sports events have officially entered the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. Will it affect the age of the contestants? Requirements have become a hot topic in the industry.
Public information shows that the Asian Games does not have clear and uniform restrictions on the age of athletes, but some events can limit the age of participation according to needs. For example, in the 2006 Doha Asian Games football match, the age of men’s football players should be under 23 years old, and each team is allowed to have 3 over-age players to participate.
In the history of the Asian Games, the oldest contestant was from the Beijing Asian Games in 1990MacaoThe shooting athlete Donahime Domendez, aged 67 years old; the youngest player was at the 1982 New Delhi Games in IndiaNorth KoreaThe female gymnast Shen Ronghua was only 7 years old. In the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, there were 845 athletes in the Chinese delegation, with an average age of 24.4 years old. Among them, the oldest was 61-year-old bridge athlete Zhu Aiping.The youngest is 13-year-old swimmer Wang Yichun。
Although the previous Asian Games have not restricted the participation of minors, according to the new domestic regulations, it is difficult for minors to participate in e-sports competitions.Will there be minors on the e-sports stage of the Asian Games? If minors are restricted from participating in e-sports at the Asian Games, will they only restrict domestic players or will they also restrict foreign players?
At present, neither the Olympic Council of Asia nor the Hangzhou Asian Games officials have made further clear regulations on these issues. Every time the reporter contacts the OCA through the official website phone and email, no response has been received as of press time. Tencent, Perfect World, NetEase and other companies said that the details of e-sports entry into Asia are still unclear, and they are all “waiting for more official news.”
“Domestic countries should have regulations on the age of their own contestants, even if the competition organizing committee does not stipulate otherwise.E-sports clubs will also refuse minors to participate in training and competitions as e-sports athletes.This ensures that the age of domestic players meets the requirements, and as for foreign players, it is not necessary to be equal to domestic players.. “Zhang Shule said.
E-sports also eat “youth meal”
Since most e-sports events have almost harsh requirements on physical reaction ability, hand speed, etc.,Similar to most traditional sports,E-sports is also a “youth meal” project。
Public information shows that the average age of the champion teams in the previous DOTA2 TI competitions is 20-23 years old, and most of the players are between 17-25 years old. For example, the main member of the TI6 champion Chinese team Wings, Shadow is 19 years old, Tiaodao Tiaodao, 24 years old, Faith_bian 18 years old, iceice 21 years old, y`Innocence 18 years old, with an average age of 20 years old.
The age structure of the champion team of the League of Legends S game is similar. In the S8 season, the average age of the Chinese team IG was less than 20 years old when they won the championship. The youngest member of the team is Jackerlove 18 years old and the oldest is 21 years old.
Similar to traditional sports, the previous e-sportsPlayersMostly from teenagersTimeJust in timeopenHajimepractice，exist18-25ageIndirecthave toscore,After thatFade out graduallyThe arena is transformed into a commentator, anchor, coach, team leader, etc.staff member.
For example, a milestone in the history of Chinese e-sports, the famous Warcraft 3 world champion SKY Li Xiaofeng, Baidu Encyclopedia shows that he has been exposed to e-sports at the age of 13, and began to participate in official competitions at the age of 16. Won the WCG World Finals at the age of 20. After 2012, the 27-year-old SKY gradually faded out of the game and began to try to transform.
China’s e-sports market is expected in 2022
Or increase to 184.33 billion yuan
Three years ago, when the iG team (invictus Gaming) finally won the LPL Division’s first world championship in the League of Legends S game 3:0, the history of Chinese e-sports has been rewritten. As a sport, e-sports is increasingly recognized by mainstream values.
In 2003, the State General Administration of Sports formally approved e-sports as the 99th official sports competition; in 2008, the State General Administration of Sports re-appointed e-sports as the 78th official sports competition; in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, e-sports was awarded Listed as a viewing event; by the end of 2020, e-sports and breakdancing have been approved to be included in the Hangzhou Asian Games competition. Among them, e-sports is an “intelligence project”.
Different from the exhibition games at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, e-sports is regarded as the official competition event of the Hangzhou Asian Games. This means that e-sports, like swimming, track and field and other traditional sports, will also be directly included in the awards of e-sports players from various countries. National or regional medal list.
“With the official’entry into Asia’ of e-sports, it marks that e-sports, as a favorite event for young people, has been on the road of standardization, maturity, and systemization, and has become another milestone in the history of e-sports.” In an interview with the reporter of “Daily Economic News”, the operator of Hero Sports VSPN said that compared with the 6 shortlisted projects in 2018, the Hangzhou Asian Games added two classic categories, shooting and fighting, and enriched the categories of competition events. .
Image source: Photograph
As early as the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, six e-sports events including “League of Legends”, “Arena of Valor” (King of Glory International), “Royal Clash”, “Live Football” and “Hearthstone” appeared as performance items. China won 2 gold and 1 silver achievements (not included in the overall medal list).
“My contact with games and e-sports started when I was young in “StarCraft” and “Warcraft”. Between my fingers, international competitions continue to land in China, and Chinese teams have successively won world championships such as League of Legends, CFS, KCC, and PEC. , And achieved good results at the Jakarta Asian Games, allowing Chinese e-sports to gradually stand on the world’s leading level.” Ying Shuling, founder and CEO of Hero Sports VSPN, recalled this.
E-sports has a large number of fans in China due to its high confrontation, uncertainty and appreciation. Although the offline development of the e-sports industry has been hindered under the influence of the new crown epidemic, the online market has grown rapidly with the help of live broadcast and short video platforms, and the overall scale has risen against the trend. As of the first half of this year, the number of Chinese e-sports users reached approximately 484 million, a year-on-year increase of 9.94%. IiMedia Consulting data shows that by 2022, China’s e-sports market is expected to grow to 184.33 billion yuan.
Reporter|Wen Menghua and Li Jianing (internship)
Edit|Duan Lian Dong Xingsheng Du Hengfeng
Proofreading|He Xiaotao
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