The digital economic picture of Esports
globally, Esports has gone beyond the framework of a simple entertainment activity, reaching a value of $1.6 billion in an industry by 2024, expected to reach $1.87 billion in 2025, according to statistics from Newzoo.
This is only a direct revenue from Esports, such as broadcasting rights, sponsorship, advertising, ticket sales and goods related to professional tournaments, excluding indirect revenue such as selling items in games or brand promotion. Notably, more than 600 million people around the world have watched Esports events in 2024.
In Vietnam alone, according to Statista's forecast, the revenue of the Esports market will reach 7.2 million USD in 2025 and increase to 10.4 million USD in 2029, with an impressive annual growth rate of 9.72%.
Meanwhile, the number of people participating in e-entertainment in Vietnam currently reaches about 28.2 million people, accounting for 28.7% of the population.
The number of Esports followers in Vietnam also recorded more than 10 million people. These figures show the strong development potential of this industry in Vietnam.
"Golden egg" for the local economy
Esports is generating huge cash flow for local economies. Major tournaments such as the Vietnam Open Championship (LOL Worlds Championship) have become a significant source of revenue for host cities.
For example, the LOL Worlds Championship 2022 held in San Francisco and New York generated about $53 million in revenue from tourism, hotels and spending from the audience. Similarly, the lol Worlds Championship 2024 Final at the O2 Arena in London contributed an additional $15.5 million to the UK economy, according to an estimate from London & Partners.
In particular, Esports is creating tens of thousands of jobs related to content production (streamers, video editors), event organization, software development and marketing. According to Forbes, the state of Georgia (USA) benefits 500 million USD and 12,000 jobs from Esports, with the impact spreading to many other fields such as technology, media and tourism.
Opportunity for Vietnamese Esports to take off
Vietnam has many advantages to develop Esports such as: Young population, Internet infrastructure with the highest speed in Southeast Asia, affordable costs, the rate of adults using smartphones is up to 90%. These are "golden" factors that help Vietnam become a leading Esports center in the region.
Not only that, the public's prejudices about games are gradually being erased when Esports is recognized as an official sport in many international tournaments.
In Vietnam, large-scale live broadcasts for key Esports tournaments have been held regularly, attracting a large number of fans to participate, contributing to building a vibrant and sustainable Esports community.
Social recognition for Esports is further demonstrated when many professional Esports tournaments have begun to be broadcast on national television and digital platforms, making the sport popular and easily accessible to a wide audience.
For example, VTVcab has strategically cooperated with VNGGames to produce and broadcast the entire domestic and international tournament system of games copyrighted by VNGGames in Vietnam.
According to Mr. Do Viet Hung, Chairman of the Vietnam E-Sports and Entertainment Association (VIRESA), the biggest challenge for Vietnamese Esports is how to develop synchronously domestically and internationally. Esports is different from traditional sports in that it develops and changes constantly in sports and competition types. Many Vietnamese sports are not popular, and countries around the world have gone far compared to Vietnam in terms of competition and players.
