Carlos Alimurung recalls the series of events that cemented his belief that e-sports was morphing into the next juggernaut. It was the late noughties, and on regular trips to South Korea, the then-executive at LG Electronics was struck by how e-sports athletes in the country were cast as superstars of the same ilk as LeBron James and Tiger Woods, with their towering images glaring from megawatt billboards.
“When asked what advice he would give a fresh MBA graduate, he said, just make sure you get on the right train – it doesn't matter whether you sit in first or economy class,” he recounted.Today, with the pandemic filliping online gaming activity, the train carrying millionaire Fortnite players and ballooning tournament purses shows no signs of halting.
In that respect, Yeo's investments – EVOS signed up popular regional content creators early in the game and is a virtuoso in frothy TikTok videos and talkshow segments stamped with product placements – have paid off handsomely. Though plans to produce a horror movie starring his talents have mothballed due to COVID-19 restrictions, he shared that revenue from their streaming division has surged.
But digital marketing savvy can only swing so far without mainstream audiences. Alimurung contends that the region's dearth of major sporting exports represents a void that lends itself to e-sports proliferation. On a grassroots level, gaming peripherals company Razer hosted its inaugural regional invitational last year, which was open to players from 10 nations in Southeast Asia, regardless of their ranking. Florent Gutierrez, the company's global e-sports director, says that such initiatives aim to “break down the barriers to entry and allow all gamers a chance to compete at a professional level.
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