China (and Asia) Are Driving a Booming Global ESports Market

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Ben Wu’s hard work in college led to a degree in biomedical engineering and a well-paid job at a Chicago trading firm.But in spite of being the envy of many of his peers, he quit after just three years to become a professional PC online game player.Going by the name Merlini, he was able to earn more money playing games, likeDefense of the Ancients(DotA), and working as a commentator for eSports tournaments than he ever did as a trader.

吳賁通過大學期間的刻苦努力取得了生物醫學工程學位，畢業后在芝加哥的一家貿易公司找到了一份高薪工作。但是，盡管令很多同齡人羨慕不已，他卻只做了三年便辭掉工作，成為了一名職業電腦線上電競玩家。在游戲中化名梅林尼，通過打電競（比如《刀塔》）和做電競比賽解說員，他能夠賺取的錢比在貿易公司時多很多。

[2]Wu’s career trajectory is emblematic1emblematic有代表性的。of the growth of eSports, which are booming globally, but particularly in Asia where champions and commentators have achieved cult-like status.And people like Wu are playing digital games and earning more money than the majority of us make at our 9-5 jobs.

[2]吳賁的職業發展軌跡代表了電子競技的發展狀況，該項運動正在全球蓬勃開展，尤其是亞洲，那里的冠軍和解說員深受追捧。像吳賁這樣的人通過玩電游所賺的錢要超過我們大多數朝九晚五工作的人。

[3]In a true testament to how big eSports have grown, look no further than2look no further than只需要看……就夠了；沒有比……更好的。the dictionary.Now an official word on dictionary.com, eSports can be used as a noun (usually used with a plural verb) or an adjective: (n) competitive tournaments of video games, especially among professional gamers; (adj) of or relating to eSports: an eSports event;eSports gambling.

[3]想知道電競發展得究竟有多大，詞典是最好的證明。在詞典網上，電子競技（eSports）已被收為正式詞條，該詞可以用作名詞（通常與復數動詞搭配），也可以用作形容詞：作名詞時，指電游的競技比賽，尤指職業玩家參與的賽事；作形容詞時，指電競的或與電競相關的，比如電競活動、電競賭博。

[4]ESports can be played on PCs or mobile devices, the latter segment is predictably experiencing a huge boom,especially in China.Massive live tournaments, such as theLeague of legendsWorld Championships, with millions of dollars up for grabs3up for grabs可供爭奪的。, are held every year and Chinese teams are a force to be reckoned with.

[4]電競可以在電腦或移動設備上進行，正如所預見的，后者發展迅猛，尤其在中國?！队⑿勐撁恕啡蚩倹Q賽這樣的大型直播賽事有著數百萬美元的獎金，每年舉辦，而來自中國的各支隊伍是一股不可忽視的力量。

[5]Today, eSports gamers like Wu are professionals leaving coveted jobs in finance to earn more money playing video games.These gamers have fans; Wu in particular has thousands of followers watching his online gaming tutorials on YouTube and Twitch, the streaming service that Amazon bought for nearly $1 billion.We estimate there are 100 million eSports fans in China now.They watch professional competitions, either live or online, on many video sites that are China’s answer4answer堪稱相當的事物。to Twitch.

[5]如今，像吳賁這樣的電競玩家都是職業玩家，他們辭掉了金融領域令人垂涎的工作，通過玩電游賺取更多的錢。這些玩家都有粉絲，吳賁更是有數千名粉絲在YouTube和Twitch上觀看他的在線游戲教學課，Twitch是亞馬遜以近10億美元收購的流媒體服務商。我們估計，現在中國有1億電子競技迷。他們在許多視頻網站觀看直播或在線的職業比賽，那些網站相當于中國的Twitch。

[6]And, while eSports typically comprises PC online games today, there is already growth in the mobile eSports segment, too, where gamers play competitive eSports on mobile devices such as tablets or smartphones.

[6]而且，雖然目前電競主要是線上電腦游戲，但是移動端電競游戲已蓬勃發展，玩家們在平板或智能手機等移動設備上打電競。

[7]The most common games associated with eSport competitions are realtime strategy (RTS), fighting, firstperson shooter (FPS), and multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games.

[7]電競比賽最常見的游戲類別有實時策略類（RTS）、格斗類、第一人稱射擊類（FPS）和多人在線戰術競技類（MOBA）。

[8]Gaming competitions have existed for amateurs since the ’70s.Arguably the first eSports event took place in 1972 on the campus of Stanford University, where students battled each other in the gameSpacewarfor a grand prize of a year’s subscription toRolling Stonemagazine.Eight years later, in 1980, Atari5雅達利公司，街機游戲、家庭視頻游戲機和家用電腦領域的先驅，1972年由諾蘭·布什內爾和泰德·達布尼在美國加州森尼維爾創立。held aSpace Invaderstournament,the first large-scale video game competition, drawing 10,000 participants from across the U.S.

[8]自1970年代起，業余愛好者就開始舉行游戲比賽。1972年，斯坦福大學校園里舉行的比賽可算是首個電競賽事，學生們在電游《太空戰爭》中互斗，爭奪大獎——《滾石》雜志一年免費訂閱。8年后，在1980年，雅達利公司舉辦了《太空入侵者》錦標賽，這是史上第一場大型電游比賽，吸引了來自美國各地的1萬名參與者。

[9]The dominance of MOBA games is perhaps the strongest case of all for its legitimacy6legitimacy合理。as a bona fide7bona fide真實的。genre.MOBA games have had a direct impact on turning eSports into a place for amateurs having fun into revenue-driving professional events.I believe that demand for MOBA games is driving a resurgence in demand for Internet cafés across China and Asia, as gamers prefer to play face-to-face and to socialize

[9]MOBA游戲之所以在電競中占主導地位，可能是因為它最真實可信。MOBA游戲直接影響了電子競技從業余愛好者的單純玩樂轉變成收入驅動的職業賽事。我認為，人們對MOBA游戲的需求正在推動中國乃至亞洲各國網咖的復蘇，因為玩家喜歡與他們的5人團隊和5人對手團隊面對面with their 5-person teams and 5-person opponents, which is how many such games are structured.The use ofinternet cafés bottomed out8bottom out（惡劣局勢等）降到最低點。in 2013, and in 2014 and 2015 we saw an increase in the use ofinternet cafés for competitive gaming and viewing eSports.

[10]The most lucrative event in the eSports world isDota 2—The International9美國Valve公司舉辦的Dota 2系列賽事。, with a purse10purse（體育比賽的）獎金。of $18 million in 2015.Compare that to purses from other sporting events, and the rise of eSports plus the impact of games likeDota 2becomes clear:

·The Masters: $10 million

·Tour de France: $2.6 million

·Wimbledon Mens/Womens Singles: $14.86 million

[10]電競世界中最賺錢的比賽是《刀塔2》國際邀請賽，2015年的獎金為1800萬美元。與其他體育賽事的獎金相比，電子競技的崛起（加之《刀塔2》等游戲的影響）一目了然：

? 美國高爾夫大師賽：1000萬美元

? 環法自行車賽：260萬美元

? 溫布爾登網球錦標賽男/女單：1486萬美元

[11]A key point to keep in mind when defining eSports is that it’s not just aboutplayingthe games—watching eSports competitions is a world onto its own.According to ESPN, more people watched the 2014League of legendsworld championship finals than Game 7 of the World Series or the clinching game of the NBA Finals.There are more than 100 million eSports fans in China alone, watching professional gamers and tournaments online, live or on TV.合作和交流，五對五也是大多數這類游戲的設計架構。網咖消費在2013年降到谷底，2014和2015年，到網咖玩競技游戲和觀看電子競技的人數有所增加。

[11]給電子競技下定義時，關鍵是要記住，它不僅僅是玩游戲——觀看電競比賽已自成一派。據ESPN報道，與世界職業棒球大賽第七場比賽或NBA總決賽關鍵比賽相比，觀看2014年《英雄聯盟》全球總決賽的人更多。僅在中國就有超過1億的電競愛好者，他們在線上、現場或電視上觀看職業玩家和電競賽事。

[12]ESPN and Tencent, the largest online games company in China, and

[12]騰訊是中國最大的網絡游戲公司，也是世界上市值one of the largest Internet companies in the world by market cap, have teamed up11team up合作。to cover sports in China.ESPN aired the Heroes of the Dorm tournament, in which college teams competed while playing Blizzard12暴雪娛樂公司，美國視頻游戲開發商和出版商，總部設在加州歐文，是美國動視暴雪公司的子公司?！痵Heroes of the Stormin order to be awarded $500,000 and college tuitions for the winners—in 2016 the winner was Arizona State.

[13]Market estimates are that the total global market for eSports was nearly$750 million in 2015, nearly half of that from Asia led by China and South Korea.

[13]市場估計，2015年全球電競市場總額近7.5億美元，其中幾乎一半來自于中國和韓國領銜的亞洲市場。

[14]There’s no denying eSports is a world with huge potential for gamers.With gamers and viewers flocking in record numbers, eSports represents a huge market opportunity for companies in terms of sponsorships, advertising,merchandise, and much more.

[14]無可否認，對游戲玩家來說，電子競技是一個具有極大潛能的世界。隨著玩家和觀眾劇增，數量空前，電子競技也為各個公司提供了巨大的商機，他們可以投贊助、做廣告、賣商品，等等。

[15]“Be Like Mike?”13佳得樂的一個廣告片，由美國籃球明星邁克爾·喬丹主演，1992年播出。Who knows…maybe one day Gatorade will be telling us to “Be like Wu.” 最大的互聯網公司之一。ESPN和騰訊已達成合作，在中國報道體育賽事。ESPN轉播了“宿舍英雄”比賽，該項賽事由大學組隊參加，所玩游戲是暴雪娛樂公司出品的《風暴英雄》，獲勝者將贏得50萬美元獎金和大學學費——2016年的獲勝方是亞利桑那州州立大學。

[15]“像喬丹那樣？”誰知道呢……沒準兒有一天佳得樂會打出廣告“像吳賁那樣”。