E-sports will be given a boost in the upcoming budget, Secretary for Innovation and Technology Nicholas Yang Wei-hsiung revealed yesterday.
His IT bureau will work with Cyberport on tournaments and training, with Cyberport providing venues for contests and training.
Besides backing those activities, Yang said, officials will be supporting efforts to lift Hong Kong's e-sports-related sector, and more details will come out when the budget is presented next Wednesday.
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po described e-sports in last year's budget as a new sector with potential for driving economic development.
Electronic sports, commonly known as e-sports, is an online-based activity with a mass of contestants in tournaments that see fields whittled down progressively. And it is to feature in the Asian Games.
According to e-sports market research agency Newzoo, the activity is expanding fast globally, with revenues in related sectors expected to reach US$1.5 billion (HK$11.6 billion) by 2020.
Research by Cyberport found there are over 300,000 players in Hong Kong, and developing e-sports can benefit the SAR's travel and entertainment sectors as well as IT. It hopes to unearth new talent too.
Yang also said on radio that e-sports links people from around the world to watch or join contests, meaning the activity is "no different from ordinary sports events."
He added: "E-sports is related to the digital entertainment industry. It is much more than gaming."
Eric Yeung Chuen-sing, president of the E-sports Association Hong Kong, welcomed the backing for organizing e-sports tournaments can be tough. Venues are expensive, he added, and e-sports organizers are not entitled to some privileges enjoyed by other sports.
"For MacPherson Stadium, we pay 10 times the booking fee of others," he said. "We don't have precedence either."
Yeung also hopes e-sports will soon be listed in the government's sports category, which would entitle participants to more rights and benefits.
He also wants to see official sponsoring of tournaments, citing Taiwan's government providing NT$30 million (HK$8 million) for an e-sports contest last year.
For now, the association is developing a registry of e-sports players and will be endorsing tournaments this year, which will help with the public profile.
And Yeung hopes to see Hong Kong winning medals when e-sports are in the Asian Games at Hangzhou in 2022.
jane.cheung@singtaonewscorp.com
