For most gamers, the only thing better than playing is being able to share the experience. And since the early days of PC and console games, people have been eager to come together and compete, conquer challenges, and join a global community of players and fans. In the last decade, esports — organized video game competitions between fully fledged professional teams or amateur players — transformed gaming on a global scale by turning it into a spectator sport. Esports events and tournaments engaged the community in an entirely new way by going beyond the game itself to invite fans into an immersive live experience, whether in-person at local events or shared with millions via live streaming platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. And as COVID-19 lockdowns forced internet cafes (icafes) to close and gamers to follow the action from home, players and fans have more time than ever to engage with their favorite esports titles. By helping foster a dedicated audience of player-fans, esports has propelled many of the world’s top titles like “Fortnite,” “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG),” and “Mobile Legends: Bang Bang” to unprecedented levels of success. But more importantly, it’s revealed that driving meaningful user engagement is about more than designing a great game — it’s about competition, completion, challenge, and community. As mobile technology catches up to its PC and console counterparts, mobile esports is quickly taking the spotlight, and gamers in Asia are stealing the show. Home to more than 1.5 billion gamers¹ and a fast-growing mobile population, Asia is poised to show the world that mobile esports is the next evolution in player-fan engagement.

onsole counterparts, mobile esports is quickly taking the spotlight, and gamers in Asia are stealing the show. Home to more than 1.5 billion gamers¹ and a fast-growing mobile population, Asia is poised to show the world that mobile esports is the next evolution in player-fan engagement. Asia: The home base for esports fandom Looking back on the first organized esports events, it’s hard to believe players would one day compete for million-dollar prizes. But as more people around the world gained access to the internet and the world of esports, investments from sponsors and retailers have skyrocketed. In just the last year, there have been 14% more esports tournaments staged around the world after falling 5% between 2017 and 2018.² Global prize pools have also grown by 40% since 2017, eventually exceeding a quarter-billion dollars in 2019^.3 Asia: The home base for esports fandom 2

Prize pool values 2017 $116.5M 40% 20182019 2018 Total prize % $163.7M pool value Number of YOY tournaments YOY 2019 $228M As a long-time global hub for gamers, Asia has historically been an esports leader in key markets: • South Korea — the birthplace of esports — has been a major force in the industry for over a decade and continues to be one of the largest esports markets in terms of earnings and industry development (e.g., icafes, local tournaments, and sponsored events).⁴ • China holds the world’s largest single-country population of esports fans across all platforms at 350 million.⁵ Gamers in China drove the most esports revenue in 2019, and every one of the country’s top games on mobile and PC (by revenue and player base) are esports titles.⁶ China’s Ministry of Education has even worked to add esports and gaming into higher education and vocational training curricula to boost the country’s competitiveness on the world stage. • Japan and Southeast Asia are quickly catching up. Following regulatory changes allowing esports events to offer more competitive prize pools as well as the establishment of the Japan Esports Union (JeSU) in 2018, Japan’s esports market revenue grew 13X yearover-year.⁷ In Southeast Asia, the majority of gamers said they’ve played an esports title either casually or competitively,⁸ and the 2019 SEA Games was the first Olympic Committee-sanctioned event to feature esports as a medal event.