The Economist - USA (2020-06-27)

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otorracing has along and che-

queredhistoryofcheating,fromille-

galdesignstotheuseofnitrousoxideto

givecarsa boost.OnMay23rd,however,a

newtypeemergedwhena Formulaedriver,

DanielAbt,wasdisqualifiedforsubstitut-

inga teenagevideo-gamertodriveforhim.

Thecheatinghappenednotina realcarbut

ina virtualversionofthesport,playedon

theofficial“Formula1”videogame,organ-

isedtokeepfansamusedwhilerealracing

wasstoppedforthepandemic.Theraces

putcardriversupagainstprofessionalvir-

tualracers,andwerewatchedbyhundreds

ofthousandsofviewersontelevisionas

wellasYouTubeandTwitch,a live-stream-

ingserviceownedbyAmazon.

Thevirtualf1contestwasnottheonly

exampleofathletestakingtoa video-game

versionoftheirsportduringthepandemic.

In Britain Sky Sports, a broadcaster,

showedmatchesof“fifa”, a popularfoot-

ballgame,withplayersfromthereal-life

PremierLeague.InAmericanascarraces

havebeenheldvirtually,too.

Itmayseemsurprisingthatfansmight

besatisfiedbywatchinga virtualversionof

theirsport.Yetvideogameshavebeenqui-

etlybecomingmoreliketraditionalsports

forsometime.Covid-19,bykeepingath-

letes indoors, has given a boost to “e-

sports”—notjust virtual versionsof old

sports, but entirely new online games,

playedcompetitivelybyprofessionalsand

watchedbytensofmillionsofpeople.

Videogames,nowplayedoftenbyper-

hapsa quarteroftheworld’spopulation,

arenolonger just entertainment. Many

gamesaremorelikesomethingbetweena

sportand a social network. And games

havethrivedunderlockdown.Thenumber

of playerslogged into Steam,a popular

gamingplatform onpcs,reachedrecord

highs in late March, with 25m players

loggedinatone time.Nintendo’sshare

priceincreasedby45%inthemonthfrom

March16th.Twitchsawitstrafficjumpby

50%fromMarchtoApril.

Overthepastdecadethebusinessmod-

elofgameshaschangedradically.Revenue

usedtocomefromsellingblockbustersin-

gle-player games, suchas “Grand Theft

Auto”,ondisks.Nowthebiggest-grossing

games,suchas“Fortnite”or“LeagueofLeg-

ends”,are given away free and updated

constantly, with money made from in-

game purchases. They are more social,

morecompetitiveandarguablymoread-

dictive.Someofthemarebecomingcultur-

alphenomenaintheirownright.Execu-

tiveshopetheycanpersuademorepeople

towatchthem,buygearandcheerteamsas

theydowithtraditionalsports.

Take“LeagueofLegends”,perhapsthe

biggest e-sport in the world. It was

launchedin 2009 byRiotGames,anAmeri-

canfirmnowownedbyTencent,China’s

biggesttechfirm.Itisa complexstrategy

game,inwhichteamsoffiveplayerscom-

mand“heroes”inabattletodefeateach

other.Asmanypeopleplayitregularlyas

playtennis;atanyonetime,8mpeople

maybeonline.Italsosupportsa profes-

sionalgamethatis,atleastintermsofthe

numberofplayersearninga livingfromit,

alsolargerthantennis.Thefinal ofthe

LeagueofLegends WorldChampionship

lastyearwaswatchedliveby44mpeople.

BycomparisontheSuperBowl,America’s

biggestlivesportingevent,waswatchedby

roughlytwicethat.

Twelveprofessionalleaguesnowspan

allregionsoftheglobeexceptAfrica,with

120 franchised teamsand perhaps1,000

professionalplayers.Whereastennisstars

intheworld’stop 200 often struggleto

makea living,“LeagueofLegends”players

inAmericaareguaranteeda minimumsal-

aryof$75,000.There,playersareentitled

tothesamevisasthatotherforeignath-

letescanget.Theaveragesalaryiscloserto

$400,000, says Chris Greeley of Riot

Games. Lee Sang-hyeok, a Korean star,

E-sports

Legendsinlockdown

Thepandemichasacceleratedthegrowthofcompetitivevideo-gaming

The EconomistJune 27th 2020 49

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