Why Singapore is Attractive to Professional eSports Tournaments

Singapore has identified eSports as a key industry, issued a series of policies to facilitate game developers, and attracted global professional tournaments.

Large gaming community

Singapore has a population of about 5.9 million, but the proportion of gamers is quite high. According to Statista, the island nation has 4.2 million mobile gamers, with revenue reaching $288 million. Data from Newzoo also shows that last year, this country had 46% of the population watching video game content; 21% of urban residents follow e-sports.

This is also the country with the highest average revenue per mobile gamer in the region, reaching 50.75 USD in 2022. This figure is forecast to continue to increase by an average of 5.41% per year until 2027. Meanwhile, Indonesia - the country with the most gamers in Southeast Asia, stopped at 10.36 USD per person and Thailand is 19.66 USD per person.

Southeast Asia mobile gaming market in 2022. Photo: Newzoo

Thanks to the level of "willingness" to spend on online games, eSports in Singapore is very favored by brands. In 2019, Singtel - one of the four largest telecommunications corporations in the island nation invested in the national eSports team during the 30th SEA Games held in the Philippines. This was the first time eSports was included in the list of official competitions.

Singtel CEO emphasized that this investment is aimed at building and developing the gaming ecosystem in the region, moving towards increasing recognition in Asia. The Group has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Singapore Esports Association (SGEA), becoming the sponsor of training and competition costs, player allowances, as well as scholarships to help athletes access educational opportunities.

E-sports match at SEA Games 31. Photo: Thanh Vu

Government promotes support

Singapore’s achievements in sports competitions such as the Olympics and SEA Games are not outstanding. However, the small island nation is a familiar venue for many professional eSports tournaments thanks to its advantages in infrastructure, technology and support policies from the Government.

In May 2022, Singapore hosted the Free Fire World Series. The highest number of views at one time for the final match was 5.4 million. According to Esports Charts, this is the highest total view count ever, excluding platforms from China. In the same year, the Dota 2 World Championship - The International 11 took place in Singapore. This was the first time the final match of the tournament was held in Southeast Asia.

According to Bloomberg , Singapore is focusing on infrastructure investment, aiming to become a global business center, developing an ecosystem to become the leading destination for e-sports in Southeast Asia. Thanks to its open policy towards the gaming industry, the island nation is the "homeland" of many game developers and publishers such as SEA (formerly Garena), Razer, Riot Games, Ubisoft...

Carlos Alimurun, CEO of One Esports (Singapore), said that Southeast Asia is the next "frontier" for mobile esports. Singapore is one of the leading countries thanks to its infrastructure including hardware, internet speed, human resources and business policies.

According to the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), the government is willing to support gaming businesses to experiment with new content formats and business models. They also ensure to provide high-quality human resources for the industry.

STB representatives said major international tournaments like The International will help boost the island nation’s ambition to develop eSports to lead Southeast Asia. These events will be an important part of the unit’s tourism development plan.

STB also supports the development of the Singapore Gaming Association (SGGA) together with the Media Development Authority and the Enterprise Bureau. Other associations such as Singapore Esports SGEA, Global Esports GEF (headquartered in Singapore), Online Games and Online Sports SCOGA... are also active organizations, contributing to the development of this industry in the lion island.

To date, Singapore has more than 220 businesses and organizations operating in the gaming industry. 100% of these units are members of SGGA. They are only subject to a 17% corporate income tax, without having to pay any other fees. This is one of the lowest tax rates in Southeast Asia.

Opportunity for Vietnam

In 2021, global eSports revenue reached more than 1.1 billion USD, expected to reach 1.8 billion USD by 2025. By the end of 2022, the global eSports audience reached 532 million people. Of which, 74% of regular eSports viewers are full-time employees, with 44% belonging to the high-income group.

Southeast Asia and Latin America are currently the fastest growing eSports markets with annual growth rates exceeding 27% and 19% respectively. In Southeast Asia alone, Singapore and several other countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, etc. have continuously recorded revenue growth in recent years.

The 2015 League of Legends World Championship Finals in Berlin, Germany. Photo: Riot Games

Similar to Singapore, Vietnam has many factors that make eSports a spearhead economy, attracting regional and world-scale tournaments. This is one of the ways to diversify budget revenue sources in the current economic context.

First, Vietnam has a large population and a young structure, being one of three Southeast Asian countries with more than 100 million people. According to Newzoo, in 2022 Vietnam will have 54.6 million gamers. The total revenue of the mobile gaming industry will reach 507 million USD.

Appota's data also shows that in the 2020-2021 period, the average eSports playing time was 2 hours and 55 minutes per day. The duration of watching livestreams and tournaments was 2 hours and 10 minutes. Video games are also among the most downloaded applications on both iOS and Android operating systems, accounting for 41.2% and 64.5% respectively.

Second , Vietnam's network infrastructure is gradually improving, especially mobile networks. 4G network speed is clearly stable compared to traditional 3G and 2G. In the near future, 5G is expected to be a boost to help improve the eSports experience for both players and viewers.

Third, publishers are gradually proving their capacity and investing seriously in organizing and operating national eSports tournaments or world final qualifiers. For example, the Icon Series SEA and Wild Rift Champions SEA games League of Legends: Wild Rift (Riot Games in collaboration with VNGGames), PUBG Mobile Pro League Vietnam (Viresa in collaboration with VNG)...

During the announcement of the League of Legends project in cooperation between VNGGames and Riot Games in 2023, Mr. Alasdair Gray, Marketing Director of Riot Games APAC region, said he believes in VNGGames' ability to operate large-scale tournaments.

"Vietnam is one of the countries with the largest League of Legends player community in the world. Riot Games will cooperate with VNGGames to conquer new goals in the future," he affirmed.

In addition, the attraction of tourism with diverse cuisine, unique culture, and reasonable costs of the S-shaped strip of land is also an ideal condition to attract international fans of the new generation sport.

In terms of policy, online games are a service that is encouraged to develop, announced in the National Digital Transformation Program to 2025, with a vision to 2030. In 2021, the Vietnam Online Game Producers and Publishers Alliance (VGDA) was established with 60 members.

The Academy of Posts and Telecommunications is also in the process of proposing a policy to open a training program in Game Technology. The unit also closely coordinates with educational institutions and businesses directly operating in this field to promote the realization of this proposal.

With the above factors, according to industry experts, Vietnam has great opportunities and potential to develop the gaming industry in general and eSports in particular. In parallel, the business environment and support policies from the Government are also important factors helping Vietnam expand the development of the eSports industry.

Thy An

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