Photo: Santtu Pajukanta/Gamerrable

Since the turn of the millennium, esports have come a long way. Starting out as a niche activity for passionate gamers, we’ve since seen a giant industry form around competitive gaming through a range of investments in esports leagues and teams.

But that interest in esports isn’t seen all across the globe. Some regions are leading, while others are on the catch-up. Read on as we have a look at some of the most significant regions in the scene.

APAC: The Benchmark

The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region is widely credited with kicking off esports as a movement. South Korea is responsible for the earliest popularisation of esports, with videogames being so symbiotic with their society’s culture that services like LAN (Local Area Network) gaming centres are vastly popular, which led to the formation of a grassroots esports scene.

However, gaming as a cornerstone of South Korean culture isn’t the only factor in the region’s successes in the industry. The South Korean government backs the industry heavily with many investments and initiatives promoting esports culture in the country, including the construction of a number of esports-centred arenas.

South Korea isn’t the only powerhouse in the region, though. Being one of the leading economies in the world, China has been able to replicate that strong gaming culture with better commercial results, as they are the market leaders for esports across the globe. 

Specifically, China’s influence in the wider gaming industries with conglomerates like Tencent – responsible for many of the world’s leading games, has led to a strong esports culture in the country.

With many of the most popular games across the world, such as League of Legends, Dota and Valorant holding esports events in the country regularly, the significance of Chinese esports cannot be understated.

These aren’t the only Asian nations pushing esports, though. South Eastern Asian nations such as Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia are bridging the gap to the region leaders by promoting esports, and as a result are some of the fastest growing markets in the world.

Playing catch up, here comes North America

While the rest of the world has yet to see a gaming culture as strong as the APAC regional leaders, esports industries are still taking off across the globe. A strong esports scene in North America (NA) is following in the footsteps of the APAC region, with a long list of NA-based organisations being some of the leading esports organisations in the world, and a huge amount of talent in different games for example Apex Legends, where NA teams have been responsible for a majority of LAN wins.

However, the industry has started to see some struggles. Organisations have faced financial struggles in recent years, with layoffs across many different areas of the esports sector being prevalent. Additionally, the adoption of esports models resembling traditional sports leagues like the NBA has been difficult, with major leagues that focused on franchising such as the Overwatch League having to shut down in 2023.

With speculation of the investment in the region faltering, it seems that we’re seeing some early signs of the NA scene shrinking. Hopefully, it’s just a temporary deflation and we can see it back to its best soon.

The newest player: the Middle East

While not yet one of the biggest regions, we’re quickly seeing the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region’s esports industries grow. The region doesn’t have the biggest gaming market at the minute, but it’s quickly growing due to the young population of the nations, with over 377 million gamers across the Middle East.

The region has a quickly-growing wider gaming industry too – you can read more on its successes and challenges here.

With Saudi Arabia leading the movement in the region, we’re starting to see MENA-based organisations like Team Falcons achieve success in games like Rocket League. Additionally, the first ever Esports World Cup is coming up in July 2024, featuring the largest prize pool in esports history ever. The intent for the region to compete with the rest of the world is clear.

Room for improvement in Europe

Europe’s esports culture is definitely commendable, with the region accounting for over 32% of the global esports revenue in 2017, but it’s not quite seen the same level of success as the rest of the world.

It’s important to note that Europe as a region is vast, and includes a range of different cultures – some of which just aren’t that into gaming, which presents challenges. 

However, there are efforts being made to grow a bigger gaming culture in these nations. We’re starting to see traditional sports and esports overlap, with football clubs like Manchester City having esports teams for games like EA FC, while French team Paris Saint-Germain has a Rocket League division.