shagrath: The rise and rise of Korean e-sports
If you ever find yourself in South Korea and feel like striking up a conversation with someone try dropping a name like Yo-Hwan (BoxeR), Jae-Yoon (sAviOr) or Jang (Moon). Three names that in the West would get you a blank stare but in Asia would earn you an approving nod from a hip young teen or a threshold breaching shriek from a female fan.
The size of the fan base and their enthusiasm for e-sports is just two of many differences between Asia and the West that keep places like South Korea far ahead of the curve when it comes to electronic sports. These differences are often subject to intense questioning but very rarely do these questions result in a satisfying answer.
To e-sport enthusiasts South Korea is perceived to be the land of milk and honey. South Korea has everything the West could possibly want for itself, such as around the clock television specializing in e-sports, six figure contracts for the hottest stars, lucrative corporate sponsorships for the premier teams and of course gaggles of devoted fans. Fans who would go so far as to ditch school to go see their favourite players compete. Europe and America do their best to emulate the proverbial promised land but we often find ourselves coming up short. The few television shows on our continents that do specialize in competitive gaming tend to revolve around gimmicks and hooks designed specifically to pull in the not-so-competitive gamer. The big money contracts we dish out are usually few and far between and more often than not end up in the hands of a South Korean anyway. To top it all off our community is littered with fly-by-night sponsorship deals that are about as transparent as a lump of lead and just as valuable.
It can be difficult pinpointing exactly what it is South Korea, and now China, have that we don’t – besides an aptitude for math and an insatiable hunger for redundant technological advances. The reason Asia’s “something special” is so difficult to single out is that it was more than just one or two events that propelled South Korea onto center stage.
Impeccable timing had as much to do with e-sports’ success in the far East as anything else. An economic downturn is the perfect time to promote entertainment activities that won’t break the piggy bank.
Starcraft hit South Korean televisions and PC’s more or less simultaneously, Spring of 1998. During that time the South Korean economy was slap bang in the middle of a swan dive into despair as a result of bad loans. The majority of Korean banks were in poor financial shape and even the Korea First Bank had collapsed. When concerning cash, the urge to splurge quickly dissipated along with Korean big business leaving the television to take point as one of the few diversions that wouldn’t raid your wallet.
Starcraft at this point was beginning to grip the nation. The game manged to finesse its way onto television screens not because it was was the cultural fad of the year but because it was cheap to produce. Television stations were feeling the squeeze of the collapsing economy just as much as the next industry in South Korea. Making programing cost-effective was priority number one and Starcraft filled that requirement beautifully.
Watching television at home was all well and good but the youth of today, as they do, like to venture outside and meet with friends on occasion. An economic crunch meant Mum’s purse strings were tightened and now even the Korean youth had to find cost effective ways to entertain themselves. Fortunately for Starcraft it had just as much to offer in way of entertainment on the PC as it did on the T.V.
Internet cafe’s, or PC bangs as they’re called in South Korea, were cheap, affordable and a pretty cool hangout spot for Korean youth. While fast food and cinema tickets would set you back at least a couple of bucks the PC bang would cost you as little as $1 USD for an hour of game time. Compare that to the $6 USD you’ll spend on an hour in a British gaming cafe and is it any surprise kids in Korea choose to utilize the service more than any other nation?
PC bangs may have contributed to Starcrafts success but Starcraft also contributed to the success of the PC bang industry. In 1998 there were 3,000 PC bangs operational in South Korea but by 1999 that number had increased to 15,150 largely a result of Startcraft’s demand. By 1999 South Korea had reached a population of roughly 46million residents, Blizzard claim that over 1million copies of Starcraft had been moved in South Korea in 1999 alone, that’s one copy of Starcraft for every 46 citizens. That number alone should impress but thanks to the booming PC bang industry Starcraft was available to anyone, anywhere at a very reasonable price. As a result as many as 500,000 Koreans were logging on to Battle.net at any given time.
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