New research from Niko Partners: Asia share of the global esports market continues to grow

The Asia esports market is more than 57% of the $1.1 billion dollar global esports market. 

Niko Partners, a market research and consulting firm covering video games, esports, and streaming in Asia and the Middle East, today announced the release of the 2022 Esports in Asia and Esports in China reports. Asia is the world’s largest and most important region for esports and Niko’s reports cover the esports markets of China, Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

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Key takeaways from the reports include:

• The Asia esports industry generated a combined revenue of $USD 634.3 million in 2021, growing 16.6% over the previous year
• Asia’s esports audience grew by 13% in 2021. There are nearly 700 million esports fans across the region
• Asia accounts for 57% of the estimated USD $1.1 billion global esports market, a 2.7% increase over 2020

• Esports tournament prize pools in Asia totaled $60 million (USD) in 2021, up from $20 million in 2020.
• The top esports genres are Battle Royale and MOBA
• India and Southeast Asia will see the largest YoY revenue growth by the end of this year at 18.3% and 17.2%

• China remains the largest esports market in Asia and the largest single-country market in the world with USD $403.1 million in esports revenue and 434 million esports fans last year. China’s esports revenue grew by 14% and its esports audience grew by 11.8% in 2021
• Esports competitors inChina are 1.5x more engaged and spend 2.4x more on gaming when compared to gamers who do not competitively play esports

• The leading PC esports titles in Asia are League of Legends, PUBG, and Valorant

• The leading mobile esports titles in Asia are PUBG Mobile/BGMI, Free Fire, and League of Legends: Wild Rift

“2021 saw the continuation of a trend we identified in 2020, brand partnerships in esports are growing in number and value and this remains the leading value generator in the esports space,” said Alexander Champlin, director of esports research at Niko Partners. “The growing value of esports sponsorships, brand partnerships, and tournaments (both online and in-person) are the leading drivers of the market’s rebound.”

Niko’s research methodology for games market reports includes gamer surveys, trends analysis on key topics such as esports, leading games and game company market share estimates, review of regulations and policy, interviews with key game companies, analysis of drivers and inhibitors for growth, review of distribution, hardware, payments, internet cafes, and more. Each market report provides a comprehensive market model and 5-year forecast of games and gamers, and qualitative and quantitative analysis on gamer demand, behavior and usage for games.