E-sport emerges as new sector

“It is our plan to become the hub in Southeast Asia. We have the infrastructure and ecosystem such as highly skilled players, support from the government and the private sector, and there are several world-class tournaments being organised. 
Even though we are still behind China and South Korea, we are quickly catching up with them and are definitely leading other countries in Southeast Asia,” said Chrisada.
“The development of e-sports in Thailand will help contribute both tangible and intangible benefits to the country,” he said.
Chrisada said that the benefits to Thai people and the broader economy are quite clear and can be summarised in three points:
1Investment: E-sports are a global industry and by 2020 are expected to generate US$1.5 billion (Bt47 billion) bin revenues from sponsorship and advertising. 
If we can build Thailand to be at the global forefront, we will attract significant investment in to the country from game publishers, sponsors and even e-sport tourism. We are already one of the top tourist destinations in Asia, therefore adding another destination industry will further strengthen and enhance the profile of Thailand. 
2Skills development: In line with the government’s ambitious Thailand 4.0 plan to digitise and drive innovation in the economy, e-sports provide an opportunity to drive the plan forward for the Thai people. 
As the industry develops, there will be a wealth of opportunities for the country to develop digital marketing expertise and creative skills, and to build innovative content. The average e-sport enthusiast is very young, aged 13-40. It is a real Gen-X industry and as a target they are incredibly sophisticated, says Chrisada, so working in this industry provides an opportunity for Thais to be leaders and innovators in the digital economy. 
3Enjoyment: Gaming is hugely entertaining. 
Thailand is a mobile-first country and smartphone penetration is high, which has made gaming more accessible to all age groups. Traditionally e-sport was focused on high-end PC gaming or consoles, but with the continued innovations in mobile technology, Chrisada foresees huge potential for e-sports to be playable via mobile technology. 
Prize money continues to grow for e-sport tournaments and the more players there are, the greater the prize fund. Who wouldn’t want the opportunity to win prize funds for playing games we love? 
“The future potential of e-sports in Thailand is very strong, so much so that the Thai government set up the Thailand E-Sport Federation [TESF], recognised by the Sports Authority of Thailand and a member of the International e-Sports Federation, to support the development and growth of the industry,” said Chrisada.
He said that e-sports as a competition involve multiple players or teams playing video games competitively against each other. They can be organised as both offline and online forms of competition. 
They are another form of competitive and spectator sports, and are popular among video-game enthusiasts around the world. They originated similar to how previous sports emerged – if there are two or more teams playing against one another, it becomes a sport.
“Actually, the earliest record of a video-game competition took place on October 19, 1972 at Stanford University for ‘Spacewar’,” says Chrisada. “In 1980, Atari held ‘The Space Invaders Championship’, and that was considered the first major tournament. More than 10,000 participants from across the United States ensured that competitive gaming was put on the map. 
During the 2010s, e-sports grew tremendously in both viewership and prize money.
“The number of tournaments has increased significantly from only 10 tournaments in 2000 to about 260 tournaments in 2010. During 2011, e-sports became popular in Thailand, thanks to a game known casually by many Thai gamers a ‘HON’ or ‘Heroes of Newerth’,” said Chrisada. 
“Today, there are approximately 18 million gamers in Thailand, the 20 highest in the world (according to the 2017 Global e-Sports Market Report conducted by Newzoo). A recent study done by Hootsuite also states that 31 per cent of the population watch live streaming of others playing games and 20 per cent watch e-sports tournaments. That number is highly impressively in such a short period of time and is expected to continue growing significantly,” he explained.
Chrisada said that E-sports Thai Leagues (ETL) was established by four e-sports clubs – Giant E-sports, Illuminate E-sports, LYNX TH, and Xavier E-sports – to promote that community in Thailand.
“The mission of our organisation is to build a strong e-sports ecosystem to support the fast growth of the e-sports industry in Thailand,” he said.
“The main challenge in Thailand for e-sports is in the perception of video games overall. Too much screen time is, of course, bad for people’s health, but we can also draw parallels. It is quite similar to office workers who on average work 7 to 8 hours a day on their laptops, which is deemed acceptable because they are in traditional professional industries,” he said. 
“The key for us is to not just focus on the actual gaming, but the potential of the industry overall and how to make it professional. This is really the most important development point for us, creating a professional industry that adds value.
“Imagine the first stages of development for professional athletes such as footballers in the English Premier League. Historically, playing football as a profession was also not seen as a sustainable or real career. However, look at the global reach now of football tournaments around the world, the associated industries that have developed as a result of it and the quality of the end product. E-sport has that opportunity now; we are at the beginning stages of building and contributing to a new global industry that will only become bigger. 
The possibilities are really endless in terms of the future impact we can have on people and industry,” said Chrisada.
E-sports Thai Leagues will hold a press conference for “Pro Evolution Soccer Thailand Amateur Community Tournament Season 1 2019” or “PTAC Season 1 2019”. Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 (PES) is a football simulation published by Konami.
The online round competition, with more than 64 competitors, is from March 12-14, and the offline competition, comprising the semi-final and final rounds, will be on March 24. The registration period for applicants opens today and runs until March 10.