China’s video gaming success sits uneasily with crackdown

If you walked into any bar in China during the past two weeks, chances are you would have seen the same images on every large-screen TV. It could have been Japan defeating Hong Kong in football, Indian archers edging out Singapore or Taiwan’s roller skaters snatching victory from an over-confident South Korea.

This is the Asian Games 2023, the world’s second biggest multi-sport competition after the Olympic Games, which will end with a grand closing ceremony in Hangzhou. More than 100 million people all over Asia are expected to watch the athletes compete but the hottest ticket in Hangzhou itself has been for the category that involves the least physical activity.

Esports, or competitive video gaming, is a medal sport at the games for the first time this year and it has drawn tens of thousands of spectators to Hangzhou. Demand has been so great that the chance to buy tickets for esports events have, unlike those for any other sport, been subject to a lottery.

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Ticket prices are higher too for the events, held in a purpose-built Esports Centre in Hangzhou, a 5,000-seat stadium where spectators watch players in the area playing games on giant screens. The games included League of Legends, Arena of Valor, Peacekeeper Elite, Dota 2 and Dream Three Kingdoms 2.

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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said last month it was creating a commission on the future of esports, a possible first step towards representation at the Olympics.

“The IOC believes that virtual sports have the potential to complement and enhance the traditional Olympic sports, and that they can provide new opportunities for athletes and fans to participate in the Olympic movement,” IOC president Thomas Bach said.

“We believe that virtual sports can help to promote the values of excellence, friendship and respect that are at the heart of the Olympic Games, and that they can inspire young people around the world to get involved in sports and to lead active and healthy lifestyles.”

China won four out of seven esports gold medals in Hangzhou, a result that was celebrated as a national achievement alongside the rest of country’s medal haul, which dwarfed that of all others. But the celebration sits uneasily with Beijing’s regulatory crackdown on technology companies and its fear of young people becoming addicted to gaming.

Those under 18 are permitted by law to play games online for a maximum of three hours a week, which must be at weekends. In August the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) issued draft guidelines that require smartphone providers to introduce “minor mode” programmes limiting smartphone access for under 18s.

Under the guidelines teenagers aged 16-18 would be limited to two hours online on their phones every day, 8-16 year olds would be allowed one hour and children under eight would get just eight minutes. Nobody under 18 would be able to go online between 10pm and 6am.

Despite these moves, China remains the world’s largest market for esports and Chinese technology companies occupy a dominant position. Five out of the seven games featured in the Asian Games were directly connected to Tencent, the world’s largest video game vendor, based in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

The esports players who represented China in Hangzhou were selected from a pool recommended by the companies that owned each of the seven games or their agents for the Chinese market. Thirty-one players won places in the national team after a process of evaluation that included high intensity training, playing 500 rounds of their chosen game during a two-week period.

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In 2019 China’s ministry of human resources and social security added “esports athlete” and “esports instructor” to its official list of new professions. Esports instructors act as coaches for players at all levels, offering technical and tactical guidance to help them to improve their scores.

Forty thousand esports instructors have already passed a national certification assessment and new professional standards and examinations are being introduced throughout the country. Jobs like this are increasingly popular among young Chinese people, according to the Paper, a Shanghai-based online news site.

“Integrating your hobbies into work and telling your parents that you can really make money through gaming suits many young people today,” it said.

“Online platforms for esports instructors can draw from the experience of food delivery and online ride-hailing companies to ... create a healthier and more orderly labour environment. These are positive in promoting young people’s employment and realising their own value, and should be encouraged and promoted.”