Singapore-based e-sports platform sees vast opportunities for growth

Singapore

WITH the Covid-19 pandemic derailing travel plans and forcing much of the world to hunker down at home, more people are glued to their mobile devices and the television set in search for different types of entertainment.

E-sports is one business that is seeing a healthy boom these days, not just in Singapore but across the region and beyond. And for Lau Kin Wai, the co-founder of Esports Players League (ESPL), this is more than just a game.

The Singapore-headquarted company, which organises and hosts amateur e-sports tournaments here and overseas, has managed to bring its platform to 16 different countries - in Asia, Europe, and the Americas - in a span of just 18 months.

Most recently in May this year, they concluded their biggest funding round yet, amassing nearly S$3 million from a group of investors.

With strong backing from big-name investors such as Genting Ventures, Warner Music Asia and iCandy Interactive, ESPL is already one of the fastest growing amateur e-sports tournaments platforms.

"Regardless of the role you are interested in, as a professional player or an executive, a career in e-sports will be an interesting path. It's a great time to enter the industry as it is still in its infancy," Mr Lau said in a recent interview with The Business Times.

As at May this year, ESPL has a reach of 14.3 million users across five regions. The league credits its success to an acute understanding of what e-sports players want, and going all out to meet those needs.

According to Mr Lau, the growth prospects lie in the amateur space, and his company is doing all it can to tap the opportunities there.

"I think the professional circuits are relatively well-served. What we really want to focus on is the grassroot and amateur levels where we estimate there are one billion players," said Mr Lau.

He said that anyone can be an e-sports athlete if he or she has either a laptop or a smartphone.

"It's a very participatory sport, where anyone should be able to pick up and excel in without being part of an elite cohort," he said.

When asked what was the best decision that ESPL has made to date, Mr Lau noted that it was the focus on grassroot gamers that helped set ESPL apart from the competition.

"It resonated with the community and our stakeholders, such as game developers and publishers, because they recognised that we are serving a big part of the value chain that has been so underserved."

While many other amateur e-sports platforms hold local-based tournaments, ESPL strives to give amateur gamers a chance at taking part in international championships.

"It's exciting to compete with people from other countries and continents. So we are allowing amateur players to chart a path to become national champions, regional champions and potentially, world champions," said Mr Lau.

But they also owe their success to some immaculate timing. ESPL went live in January 2020, at around the time when Covid-19 was starting to spread to many countries around the world. As people spent more time at home, the number of gamers gradually increased too.

ESPL was able to use their fully-online platform to muscle in on the action, pushing out on-ground tournament organisers for a slice of the pie.

Mr Lau thinks that, even after the pandemic, international e-sports tournaments like those hosted by ESPL will still be a "superior experience" to those held locally due to the exposure and thrill of a global competition.

ESPL also caters largely to the mobile gaming community, a trend that has been catching on in recent years as smartphones with better capabilities become more accessible to a wider base of consumers.

"There has been a major shift in the industry. When we first started, mobile gaming was a fast-growing but very niche area because PC gaming was still the mainstream."

Today, mobile gaming has become the mainstream. According to a report from Newzoo e-sports data insights, 80 per cent of gamers in South-east Asia play on their smartphones or other mobile devices.

"Some of the most successful game titles today are mobile titles. The hardware in smartphones is better now: the chips have improved and 4G internet played a major role in increasing connectivity. With 5G coming in, it's an even better gaming device in your hands, " Mr Lau said.

• Garage is BT's startup vertical. Read more news, analyses and opinion at bt.sg/garage