NewsLatin AmericaMexico leads the consumption of video games in Latin America

Mexico leads the consumption of video games in Latin America

It looks like a futuristic scene straight out of a sci-fi movie. between wires ethernet, leds multicolored and in the heat of processors and graphics cards cooled by water, some 3,000 fans gathered in the micro stadium of Gamergy for the meeting gamer and of eSports most important in the world that arrived in Mexico City, the new entertainment center in Latin America, after 11 years of success in Europe. The transmission of the game, in addition, gathered some 980,000 people in twitch League official and other social channels. Everyone wanted to see the best play League of Legends, a battle arena video game developed by Riot Games. It is the final of the region. The favorite squad, Isurus Gaming, competes against Estral Esports. The favourite, Isurus, made history and became the Latin American champion of League of Legends to qualify for the world Worlds 2022. The scene is repeated in the main cities of the globe. It is the new global phenomenon that in 2021 reached revenues of more than 1,100 million dollars in Latin America, with a year-on-year growth of 15.7% compared to the 950 million that have been entered in 2020 throughout the region. An 18% growth is estimated this year. The global audience of eSports it can reach 276 million people —a figure similar, for example, to the following of the NFL, the main league of American football, the most popular sport in the United States— and, its industry, invoice more than 1,000 million dollars annually, according to a report by Newzoo, a consultancy specializing in the sector.

It is the first time that the Latin American league is held in Mexico in The League of Legends. Mexico leads the video game market in Latin America with 55.8 million gamers They spend more than $1 billion a year. It is number 12 worldwide, according to Newzoo. The country has also become one of the top ten exporters of animation, video games and software. Between the gamers Mexicans, according to a 2021 report, 8.4 million people have competed in online tournaments, six million watch video game channels via specialized platforms or social networks, 11.1 million have watched professional online tournaments. “It seems that this is a world of geeks and it is not. What we are experiencing is a process of transformation to digitization. It is not only technology, it is much more. It is a way of relating, of leisure, entertainment and competition”, Santos Montiel, director of GGTech Entertainment, a technology company with projects related to video games, eSorts and Education, explains to EL PAIS.

A ‘gamer’ plays a video game during the SOFA (Leisure and Fantasy Hall) convention, in Bogota, Colombia, on October 17, 2021.Chepa Beltran (Long Visual Press/Universal Images)

The main audience of this industry today ranges from 12 to 35 years. Gamers are not only digital natives, but even starting to be natives gamers. This new audience and players, whether amateurs or professionals, are generating a model of participation and consumption that is very different from the one the world was used to. Studies indicate that, by 2024, at least 519 million people in the world will watch some type of eSports: sports in video games whose professional players, for their fans, are just as famous as athletes in any other conventional league. Massive events of this type are not something that will happen in the future, they are already here. In 2021, according to the Statista site, the global esports market was valued at almost 1,136 million dollars, an increase of almost 50% compared to the previous year. In Mexico, it is expected to reach a market value of approximately 1,340 million by 2024, and the total number of video game players reached 72.3 million at the end of 2020, an increase of 5.5% compared to 2019.

“[The League of Legends] it was the first game that was able to attract the audiences in a massive way. There are two common debates in the industry. The first is whether esports is really sports; the second is why someone would enjoy watching others play. The competitors of eSports they have nutritionists, doctors, salary, training, press conferences… identical to a professional player in a conventional sport. And about why millions gather to watch others play is because they are so good. It happens in football. It is not the same to see your friends from the colony play, as it is to see the best in the world. The ALL is the biggest competition offline from all over Latin America and the final was played in Mexico”, Eduardo Cazares, eSports Product Manager of Riot Games LATAM and leader of League of Legends eSports, explains to this newspaper.

League of Legends this year has exceeded the barrier of 115 million active monthly users. Developed by Riot Games, it’s a free-to-play game where you only pay real money to unlock cosmetic changes that don’t affect gameplay. This allows no player to start with an advantage just by spending more money, making the gaming experience more equitable. The formula has established itself as the most successful in the industry, and is shared by other titles such as Fortnite. Since League of Legends held its first world championships in a Swedish pavilion in 2011, the event has filled stadiums around the world, such as the Bird’s Nest in Beijing, built for the 2008 Olympic Games, or the Staples Center, home of Los Los Angeles Lakers, in California. This is the entertainment of the new century, which has values ​​and characteristics similar to traditional sports, but with a model of consumption and interaction of greater speed and constant changes that we do not find in other areas of entertainment.

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Source: EL PAIS

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