No ache, no recreation: how South Korea turned itself right into a gaming powerhouse | South Korea

Son Si-woo remembers the second his mom turned off his pc. He was halfway by an interview to change into knowledgeable gamer.

“She said when I played computer games, my personality got worse, that I was addicted to games,” the 27-year-old recollects.

Then Son gained an beginner event. The prize cash was 2m gained (£1,000). He handed all of it to his mother and father. “From then on, they believed in me,” he says.

Almost a decade later, Son, identified professionally as Lehends, is a a number of champion in League of Legends, a aggressive technique recreation. He performs for Nongshim PinkForce, knowledgeable group backed by one among South Korea’s largest meals firms.

The trajectory of his profession mirrors a wider reversal in how South Korea views gaming itself.

In October this 12 months, President Lee Jae Myung declared that “games are not addictive substances”, a pointy break from 2013, when there was a legislative push to categorise gaming as one among 4 main social addictions alongside medication, playing and alcohol.

That shift has been accompanied by fast progress. Between 2019 and 2023, the home gaming market expanded by 47% to be price 22.96tn gained (£11.7bn), with trade exports rising 41% in that point to 10.96tn won (£5.6bn). The market accounted for practically two-thirds of all Korean content material exports, far exceeding another cultural sector, together with Ok-pop.

Part of that ecosystem is esports: organised aggressive gaming centred on skilled leagues and groups. In 2023, the sector was worth about 257bn gained (£128m), a small share of the broader trade, however one which carries an outsized position as a showcase and advertising and marketing engine, shaping how video games are promoted, sponsored and consumed.

Korea now ranks fourth globally in gaming market share, behind the United States, China and Japan.

From curfews to cultural keystone

For a rustic that after compelled youngsters offline at midnight, the change is dramatic. Gaming is now handled as reliable work and a strategic trade.

The transformation has its roots within the late Nineteen Nineties, when South Korea emerged from the Asian monetary disaster and invested closely in broadband infrastructure. Internet cafés, often called PC bangs, unfold quickly as casual social areas. Around 7,800 function nationwide immediately.

By the late 2000s, skilled matches of StarCraft, one other technique recreation, have been filling stadiums. Broadcasting channels established formal leagues, and main companies together with Samsung, SK Telecom and KT started sponsoring groups.

Today, esports-focused programmes exist at a dozen colleges and universities, and lots of extra establishments supply levels associated to gaming. The last phases of a serious event have been just lately broadcast on terrestrial television, with followers following gamers very similar to pop idols.

A 1% likelihood of creating it

At Nongshim Esports academy in Guro district, western Seoul, the coaching rooms are compact and starkly white. Teenagers and younger adults hunch over their screens in close to silence as coaches hover between desks providing quiet directions. This is the place the desires are constructed, albeit for a choose few.

Along one hall, rows of trophies and awards are displayed. There’s additionally a dormitory for skilled gamers and a canteen overseen by a nutritionist.

Twenty-two-year-old Roh Hyun-jun is on depart from his mechanical engineering diploma. University, he says, is a backup plan. For now, he trains in hopes of turning into knowledgeable League of Legends participant.

“When you play team games with five people, you really feel that sense of unity,” Roh says. “It’s not just me winning alone, but everyone moving in the same direction to achieve victory.”

The academy, run by the identical conglomerate that sponsors Lehends’ group, fees about 500,000 gained (£253) for 20 hours of coaching a month.

Evans Oh, CEO of Nongshim Esports, which operates the academy, says solely about 1–2% of trainees go on to change into skilled gamers or safe associated esports jobs, a conversion charge he says is “not that low, but not that high”. Since opening in 2018, it has produced 42 professionals.

Training at such academies can resemble elite sport, with lengthy days dedicated to gameplay, video evaluation and group technique, alongside psychological teaching.

Top-tier gamers can earn effectively into six figures in US greenback phrases by a mixture of salaries, prize cash and sponsorships.

In a current schooling ministry survey of scholars, skilled gamer ranked fifth amongst desired jobs for elementary faculty boys. Careers, nevertheless, are brief, typically ending earlier than 30 – a timeline additional compressed for Korean males by necessary navy service.

Lehends’ teammate Hwang Sung-hoon, who’s 25 and often called Kingen, describes a career that leaves little room for doubt. “If you’re not good enough, you have to give up quickly. It’s that kind of market.”

Aiden Lee, secretary-general of League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK), the nation’s high esports league, says South Korea’s dominance, evidenced by LCK groups winning 10 out of the 15 world championships, displays the depth of the aggressive surroundings Koreans develop up in.

“What makes the difference is competition and concentration,” he says. “Korean pro players can practise more than 16 hours a day. The amount of practice and focus is very different.”

The authorities now frames its position as balancing progress with safety. Seven state-supported “healing centres” function nationwide for younger individuals thought-about overly immersed in gaming, providing consultations in partnership with hospitals.

Standard contracts for youth gamers cap official coaching hours, in what officers describe as an effort to make sure wholesome competitors.

Back on the academy, Roh, the trainee, stays centered. “I want to leave my name as the most famous pro gamer,” he says. “Since I’ve chosen this path, I want to do my best.”