E-sports, the attempts of Japan, which has been left behind

The AMD symposium “E-sports, which are conquering the world: The attempts of Japan, which has been left behind.”

My presentation "The road to becoming a major power in e-sports.”

The world market is 80 billion yen, and is growing 32% per year. Audience numbers are 400 million, and this is growing by 15% per year.

In April 2005, it was selected as an official event at the 2022 Asian Games.

It is also expected to be selected as an official event of the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.

However, Japan is a backward country.

The market size is one fifteenth of that of the world. The number of players is one twentieth of that of the world. The amount of prize money is 29th.

That’s low for a self-proclaimed game powerhouse.

The total prize money for the Dota 2 world event is 2.7 billion yen. In Japan, the scale is 5 million yen at most.

In Britain, France, and Germany, professional soccer teams take part in games, and the American NBA also operates a professional league.

In Japan, the Japanese e-sports league was started up last year too, and six teams including Tokyo Verdy have started competing, but it’s only just beginning.

Utah University in the United States has introduced an e-sports scholarship system, and exempts all tuition fees for teams participating in the League of Legends. There are many other movements such as this.

The level of recognition and profundity by society as a whole are different.

The main point is the fact that this market is an internet industry.

Twitch, the largest e-sports distribution company, has 10 million viewers per day.

Although the likes of ESPN make television channels, it’s a culture which spread on the internet.

I think that there is also potential in Japan, where the internet and mobile environments are well-organized.

There are three challenges.

1)     Regulation.

By law, prize money is limited to a maximum of 100,000 yen if it is regarded as a sales promotion for game software promotion.

If you collect money from players and give out prizes, you will also be caught for criminal gambling.

Officials involved are in the midst of consulting with the government, including the Consumer Affairs Agency, and are anxious to expand this route.

2)     Going professional.

Three existing Japanese e-sports associations including JeSPA will be united, join the JOC, and will be able to send players to the likes of the Olympic Games. This is also a theme which those involved will deal with together.

3)     Recognition.

The most important task is to raise social recognition.

Spreading recognition that e-sports are cool, that you can make money, and that they’re a big deal.

These three points are my theme too, but in addition, I have requests for both the game and IT industries.

I would like to ask the game industry to develop games aimed at e-sports.

I would like them to lead the world as a major power in games with this development.

I would like to ask the IT industry to develop the space.

I would like them to expand opportunities for new appreciation of sport, such as developing smart stadiums.

There are also government plans to develop 4K8K public viewing venues in 100 locations nationwide for 2020, so I would like to get on board with this too. I would like to appeal to local government too.

On the panel, there were discussions such as why Japan fell behind, and how to break through the regulations.

This is my answer.

In Japan, video games were extremely successful and it was late getting on board the internet, and content is shifting to live business, including in the music industry, and when the focus was placed on e-sports, the regulations stood in the way. With regular tactics it will gradually become clear. Cooperation and coordination between industry and government are important.

Incidentally, Ayuha Nakamura from twitch, who also gave a speech, is my son, and it was an unexpected booking, but it was our first time appearing together.

There were questions from the venue about “whether e-sports would take root in Japan, where conflict is avoided, like in Prince Shotoku’s ‘Harmony is the greatest of virtues.’”

In response to my bland answer of trying to produce Japanese-style e-sports, Ayuha replied, “Harmony is the greatest of virtues” is a plagiarism from the Analects of Confucius, and is nothing more than an imported concept," and laughed. 

We will strive to relax regulations, unify the organizations, and develop the space.

Let’s aim for the road to becoming a major power in e-sports.