The large number of players, large market scale, many big players pouring capital… help e-sports increase its appeal over time.

In 2009, the game League of Legends was released, and the concept of e-sports also began to emerge. Even the most optimistic people could not have thought that more than 10 years later, e-sports would completely change the global gaming industry.

Technavio forecasts that in the period 2022-2027, the market size will increase by more than 351 million USD, an average increase of 21.81% per year. The Asia-Pacific region will account for 43% of the market growth. Previously, in 2017, this unit valued the global e-sports market at 927.95 million USD.

Esports has a huge audience that is not inferior to any traditional sport. In 2022, the global audience watching eSports will be 532 million people, according to Newzoo. With an annual growth rate of 8.1% (period 2020-2025), this unit forecasts that there will be more than 640 people following this subject by 2025.

The growth of e-sports and its profit potential has caused many big players to spare no expense in investing in professional teams. They also organize large tournaments or acquire game publishing companies.

Accordingly, Samsung spent millions of dollars to organize the World Cyber Games – an international eSports tournament with the participation of 17 different countries in 2000 with a prize of 200,000 USD and increased to two million USD three years later. . Tencent Group also spent a huge amount of money to buy 93% of the shares of Riot Games, famous for two League of Legends games in February 2011.

In Vietnam, e-sports is no exception to the excitement of the world. According to data from the Vietnam Entertainment Electronic Sports Association (VIRESA), in 2020 the number of electronic sports players is 18 million people. This is also the year e-sports became an official competition at SEA Games 31, when Vietnam hosted it.

Recently, Vietnam has organized many professional tournaments such as: Vietnam eSports Championship (VEC) system and VIRESA’s UEC – University eSports Championship (UEC) national student tournament. Other spontaneous tournaments have big prizes for gamers such as the VCS summer 2022 season with a prize of 1.2 billion VND, WCS Vietnam 2022 with a total prize value of 3.7 billion VND.

Many investors also see opportunities to develop e-sports in Vietnam. In 2021, CMG.ASIA and NRG eSports completed the acquisition of the GAM team of the game League of Legends, the leading team in Vietnam, for an undisclosed amount. Mr. Andy Miller, co-founder and CEO of NRG, said that Vietnam is the perfect place to launch NRG’s global expansion.

VTC Game representative said that Vietnamese e-sports has a lot of development potential with a forecast of 28% growth in the next 5 years, the highest level in Southeast Asia. Regular practice movements take place from amateur to professional levels, and the system of movement solutions among students is also emphasized. Investors and sponsors are also willing to spend money on eSports to promote products and services, which greatly improves athletes’ ability to follow the professional path.

Regarding sustainable development, the representative of VTC Game said that Vietnamese eSports still has many problems to solve such as: building a professional management system; national championship system at periodic levels; standards of conduct during and after competition; reward and discipline system; professional contract between athletes and host clubs. In particular, it is necessary to have educational, training, and management facilities and consider eSportsss as a profession. eSportsss learners become streamers, sasters – commentators, coaches… working for game companies.

Currently, the number of professional gamers in Vietnam is about 1,000 based on statistics on achievements and income through tournaments, according to VTC representatives. In addition to GAM, which has been invested in by a foreign enterprise, other eSports clubs in Vietnam are still developing spontaneously. Professional gamers have an increasingly short lifespan (18-23 years old) and are quickly eliminated by more talented and enthusiastic successors.

According to eSports earnings, Vietnam is ranked 23rd in the world, 5th in Southeast Asia after Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia in terms of income from professional e-sports competitions.