8 South Korea’s Esports Industry in Northeast Asia: History, Ecosystem and Digital Labour
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Peichi Chung
Abstract
This chapter studies the formation of the esports gaming network in Northeast Asia by examining the case of South Korea in order to explore the role that its government plays in developing regional esports gaming culture. Since the 2000s, South Korea’s game industry has sparked a new wave of content circulation for transnational games developing in East Asia. Thanks to the advancement of networked technology, South Korea also now leads in setting global trends in esports professionalisation (Taylor, 2012). A view of early esports history shows that in the late 1990s, the popular household game Starcraft kickstarted the country’s gaming revolution. Indeed, many amateur Starcraft players made the leap into professional gaming to become full-time pro players. In 2000, the South Korean government established its flagship esports office, the Korean Esports Association (KESPA). The next year, 131 professional players registered to become members of online game teams (Jin, 2010). In addition to policy factors, ‘corporate incentives also led to the popularity of esports in South Korea’ (Taylor, 2012: 25). Since 2000, Samsung Electronic has internationalised esports by hosting annual worldwide ‘Olympics’ like tournaments, called the World of Cyber Games (WCG). Other technology conglomerates such as SK Telecom, Korean Telecom, Wemade and Jin Air nurtured the domestic esports industry by sponsoring teams in professional leagues. By the 2010s, attending events in esports arenas were becoming a part of an esports fan lifestyle in cities like Seoul. Finally, by 2014, the New York Times went so far as to describe esports as the national pastime of South Koreans (Mozur, 2014).
Abstract
This chapter studies the formation of the esports gaming network in Northeast Asia by examining the case of South Korea in order to explore the role that its government plays in developing regional esports gaming culture. Since the 2000s, South Korea’s game industry has sparked a new wave of content circulation for transnational games developing in East Asia. Thanks to the advancement of networked technology, South Korea also now leads in setting global trends in esports professionalisation (Taylor, 2012). A view of early esports history shows that in the late 1990s, the popular household game Starcraft kickstarted the country’s gaming revolution. Indeed, many amateur Starcraft players made the leap into professional gaming to become full-time pro players. In 2000, the South Korean government established its flagship esports office, the Korean Esports Association (KESPA). The next year, 131 professional players registered to become members of online game teams (Jin, 2010). In addition to policy factors, ‘corporate incentives also led to the popularity of esports in South Korea’ (Taylor, 2012: 25). Since 2000, Samsung Electronic has internationalised esports by hosting annual worldwide ‘Olympics’ like tournaments, called the World of Cyber Games (WCG). Other technology conglomerates such as SK Telecom, Korean Telecom, Wemade and Jin Air nurtured the domestic esports industry by sponsoring teams in professional leagues. By the 2010s, attending events in esports arenas were becoming a part of an esports fan lifestyle in cities like Seoul. Finally, by 2014, the New York Times went so far as to describe esports as the national pastime of South Koreans (Mozur, 2014).
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of Figures and Tables v
- Notes on Contributors and Editors vii
- Foreword 1: Media for Work and Play in a Pandemic World xi
- Foreword 2: The Development of Information and Communication Technologies in South Korea after World War II xiii
- Introduction 1
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Gender Online and Digital Sex
- Introduction to Part I 39
- Sharing, Selling, Striving: The Gendered Labour of Female Social Entrepreneurship in South Korea 47
- ‘For Japan Only?’ Crossing and Re-inscribing Boundaries in the Circulation of Adult Computer Games 73
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Governance and Regulations
- Introduction to Part II 97
- The New Personal Data Protection in Japan: Is It Enough? 101
- Phenomena and Phobia through Pokémon GO: An Analysis of the Reactions on the Augmented Reality Game in Japan 121
- How do Materiality and Corporeality Inform the Intellectual Property Debate? A Case Study of Pirated Media in North Korea 145
- Hyperreal Peninsula: North Korea’s Nuclear Cinema and South Korea’s Digital Revolution 173
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Techno-identity and Digital Labour Condition
- Introduction to Part III 199
- ‘Too Many Koreans’: Esports Biopower and South Korean Gaming Infrastructure 205
- South Korea’s Esports Industry in Northeast Asia: History, Ecosystem and Digital Labour 229
- Representations of Play: Pachinko in Popular Media 249
- The Work of Care in the Age of Feeling Machines 265
- Conclusion 283
- Index 293
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of Figures and Tables v
- Notes on Contributors and Editors vii
- Foreword 1: Media for Work and Play in a Pandemic World xi
- Foreword 2: The Development of Information and Communication Technologies in South Korea after World War II xiii
- Introduction 1
-
Gender Online and Digital Sex
- Introduction to Part I 39
- Sharing, Selling, Striving: The Gendered Labour of Female Social Entrepreneurship in South Korea 47
- ‘For Japan Only?’ Crossing and Re-inscribing Boundaries in the Circulation of Adult Computer Games 73
-
Governance and Regulations
- Introduction to Part II 97
- The New Personal Data Protection in Japan: Is It Enough? 101
- Phenomena and Phobia through Pokémon GO: An Analysis of the Reactions on the Augmented Reality Game in Japan 121
- How do Materiality and Corporeality Inform the Intellectual Property Debate? A Case Study of Pirated Media in North Korea 145
- Hyperreal Peninsula: North Korea’s Nuclear Cinema and South Korea’s Digital Revolution 173
-
Techno-identity and Digital Labour Condition
- Introduction to Part III 199
- ‘Too Many Koreans’: Esports Biopower and South Korean Gaming Infrastructure 205
- South Korea’s Esports Industry in Northeast Asia: History, Ecosystem and Digital Labour 229
- Representations of Play: Pachinko in Popular Media 249
- The Work of Care in the Age of Feeling Machines 265
- Conclusion 283
- Index 293
