What will the future of games and esports?

• Topic: What will the future e-sports look like?

• Lecturer: Song Kwang-jun-Big Pictures Interactive CEO

• Field: e-sports, business

• Time: 2022.11.17 (Thu) 16:00 ~ 16:50

• Summary: We have time to look back on esports that have been in the past and to predict the flow of future esports from Big Picture Interactive CEO Song Kwangju.

■ How has esports have changed? -Education center

Can e-sports industry will be bigger in the future? In recent years, e-sports has increased the number of new games, including mobile and other new games, and the number of e-sports viewers of League of Legends, the mainstream game, has been decreasing. In addition to esports, the game industry is also foretelling changes in various places. Opinions are still divided into what future e-sports draws.

In this regard, Song Kwang-joon, CEO of Big Pict's Interactive, gave a lecture. Song Kwangju stressed that he should look back in the past to know the future of esports. Big Pictures Interactive said that he was a big picture in the e-sports business and thought about how to go in the past.

First, we talked about esports education, the first business of Big Pictures Interactive. In the past, the image of the game and esports was not good, so no one was interested in education. Then, high-ranking jobs such as professional gamers and game BJs appeared, and elementary school students' hopeful job rankings rose to 7-8. Nevertheless, there was no place to know the process of becoming a pro gamer.

Song Kwangju said that if e-sports are sports, education is necessary. Traditional sports are so education. In addition, pro-gamers debuted at the age of 18 and had a short career in their mid-20s. The doors of the professional game team coach were narrow, so many former pros were often streamers. So Song Kwangju thought that he should create his first business to connect his former professional and professional network.

The game coach business had several attempts. First, I opened a video lecture site, but I did the wrong price policy. I tried to train YouTube, but I couldn't go beyond the name of the professional gamer or dopa like 'Faker'. The harder video method was that each patch had to take a new lecture every time.

So I opened an offline lecture with the mind of opening the Academy and teaching them properly. As the coaching inquiry came in, it was possible to become a game coach business.

E-sports education and coaching are growing in a wide range. There are public education institutions such as Korean Game Science High School-Eunpyeong Edtech High School, and schools such as Onset University have opened subjects to be able to earn credits as esports. Furthermore, in China and the United States, more and more scholarships for esports have been given. E-sports began to attract attention due to the demand for non-face-to-face sports due to the spread of Corona-19.

The same is true for private education. In the reality that everyone cannot be a professional gamer with a high salary, they must be rewarded the money and time they have invested in esports. At the 2023 e-sports business briefing session, these people also suggested ways to engage in other e-sports. We introduced coaching to become a number of job groups, including esports expert courses and esports commentators that explore our careers through QA, planning and development. In particular, in the game company, QA can save their career by preferring the former Pro or Ranker.

In addition, AI coaching is also likely to develop so that AI can win the professional team (Data 2 World Champion). The coaching market, from public education, private education, and AI, is expected to grow bigger.

■ Formation of esports competitions -Online, funding

The e-sports competition also grew rapidly. Starting with the neighborhood game room, which confronted the neighborhoods, it went beyond the PC room competition and the Universe competition to a game professional station. Now, a large stadium has been created, and in 2017, the LOL World Championship finals were held with 40,000 spectators and 57.6 million viewers.

The flow is heading online. The unified relay disappeared, and more people followed my favorite BJ, former professional, and commentary. Online competitions are also being activated. As the number of online competition platform sites has increased, the Wild Lift tournament held by Big Picture Interactive has experienced the end of the 718 team (3,500 people) in a day or two. There is even an online competition stadium without even a player seat. Various amateur competitions are being held beyond existing pharmaceuticals from college students to competitions from 70-80 years.

Nowadays, personal broadcasting has also appeared in the way viewers pay for the competition. As a representative example of CK on African TV, viewers have a funding and holding a competition. Famous BJs are funded by viewers and hold LOL competitions with a 'star balloon' worth 70 million won. There are no e-sports funding platform yet, but there is also a future development potential.

■ What will it look like in the future? -Integrated platform, betting, PC room, P2E, VR/AR

So what kind of field will the future e-sports industry develop? Song Kwangju said that it is likely to develop in the future in e-sports betting, platform business, PC room, P2E (Play to Earn) and VR/AR industries.

First, e-sports betting saw the potential for development while experiencing Corona. During the Corona city, traditional sports did not make a profit from Motor and began to turn their business with esports. In the meantime, Toto seems to be taboo in e-sports, but there has been a similar form of game forecasts in a similar form. For example, Twitch TV has been playing Twitch points and a match forecast, and various platforms such as Naver-Riot Games-African TV have also been doing events for predictions. Song Kwangju's thought that there is a possibility in Korea because there is a country where e-sports betting is already legal abroad.

Song Kwangju continued to talk about the e-sports platform. If you haven't opened the data in the past, the game company is now opening the same data as API. There is a variety of e-sports platforms from your. GG, which analyzes my play, and a site that opens e-sports competitions beyond the recommended site. Until now, esports platforms have been active, but in the future, these may exist in an integrated form. In particular, the game is online, so it is possible to quickly calculate what to do based on big data. You can recommend this game or game equipment for each individual.

The PC room, which is the basis of the e-sports' industry, is also expected to be new in the future. The most prominent change is sales. Food and beverage sales rose to 24.3%. CEO Song Kwangju is sensitive to raising the cost of using PC rooms, and he has experienced that he does not respond sensitive to the cost of PC room food. The PC room is larger, qualitatively improved, and at the same time transformed into a leisure space with a combination of meals.

Furthermore, if there are many PC rooms that advertise computer performance in the past, it is now changing to a software-centered PC room. In the Chinese PC room, more than a kiosk like Korea, more and more can be charged with apps without a kiosk. It is operating the same system as Pike Pay to operate like Megabox-CGV cinema. The reservation of the PC room is also possible, and later it will be possible to access the PC room remotely. If the PC room increases, you can get a shop in shop PC room. You can grow your business by selling game titles and game goods in your PC room.

The game market itself is also a sign of change. In the past, as the PC-centered game has moved from mobile to mobile, games with influencers and viewers are growing. Like the Baltic Show-Like the Choice Chamber, a game form is formed by viewers in the influencer broadcast. This depends on how big the influence of the influencer is.

P2E (Play to Earn) games, which can make money while playing games, are also likely to grow. The biggest problem at this point is that the game itself is not fun. However, if a large game company recruits an excellent director and makes a fun game, gamers are a matter of time. Naturally, the P2E market could also grow.

The VR/AR market is also likely to grow in the future. The VR/AR Meta Quest Pro has been announced, but the reality is still in the limit of stimulating audiences. However, if all five senses are replaced online, perfect virtual reality can be achieved. Various technologies such as virtual reality armor technology, touch screen, virtual tasting, and olfactory devices are still being developed. Neuralink that deceive the brain are also being studied, so the game is also going to the perfect virtual reality.

Lastly, CEO Song Kwangju was based on the claim that the e-sports and game markets would be greater, and humans are pursuing fun, and e-sports-games can provide fun that traditional sports cannot follow. The more technically developed the game market, the more buried. Humans are hard to maintain the five senses as they age, but in the online game world, they can maintain the most wonderful life and five senses. Therefore, the game and esports market will grow.