Hangzhou Asian Games | Gaming makes debut as medal event in major step towards future of sports

China’s Hangzhou Esports Center is a futuristic setting for the Asian Games, where technology is deeply intertwined in the way of life and sport. Fans flock to catch a glimpse of gaming stars like Faker, while the athletes compete in LoL, DOTA, and other games. With a market value of over $1.39B and over a billion active players and viewers, Esports is here to stay.

Sze Yuen Leung of Macao is slouched in his gaming chair before his team’s match. The camera is trained on him. It is 9 a.m. and Leung yawns in his chair while cracking his fingers at full stretch. In the following 20 minutes, he and his four teammates convincingly hammer their opponents at League of Legends (LoL). They then get up, shake their hands, and are off the stage, soaking in the applause of several hundred onlookers.

The scene was perhaps an encapsulation of what the future of sports could look like. “After a while, nobody will be playing the other sports,” United Arab Emirates’ Harib Sami boldly suggests.

The over-arching message of the Asian Games in Hangzhou is how China and the world are looking into the future where technology will be deeply intertwined in the way of life and sport, too. The setting for the Esports’ bow in the Games as a medal event showed how the present is paving the way for the future.

The newly-built Hangzhou Esports Center is nestled inside the scenic Beijingyuan Ecological Park like an alien spaceship, resting behind trees to hide from the eyesight of mankind. But that doesn’t stop the venue from being the most sought-after ticketing event at the Asiad. The frenzy surrounding Esports in China has led to a steep increase in the entry prices with people paying as much as 1000 yuan (₹11,500). The starting price for a game of EA Sports FC is 400 yuan, eight times more than that of a football game.

South Korea’s Lee Sang-hyeok, better known by his gamer tag ‘Faker’, touched down in China to a rockstar’s welcome last week with media and fans flocking to catch a glimpse of him. Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal, who is a gamer himself, had the opportunity to meet Faker, saying ‘it was a dream come true’ to have a picture taken with the Korean.

While Faker, dubbed the GOAT of the game League of Legends (LoL), was not in action on Tuesday, that didn’t stop several fellow gamers and supporters from turning up in numbers and taking their seats in the early hours of the morning. The fans are gamers themselves and are busy getting a game or two on their phones during intervals. During the matches, they form an interactive part of the environment reacting to the skill of an athlete. Each seat is provided with a bag, containing a purple lightsaber-esq rod which are turned on in the background to add to the atmosphere.

The multiplayer strategy game LoL was the main attraction in what was a futuristic backdrop inside the bowels of the arena, where the action takes place. The gaming tables are set up in the underground on a colourful circular stage. The arrangement provides a fight-pit-like feel with the fans overlooking them from up top. Giant TV screens are hoisted over the floor, which relay the game screens from the computers and phones.