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.

吴贲通过大学期间的刻苦努力取得了生物医学工程学位，毕业后在芝加哥的一家贸易公司找到了一份高薪工作。但是，尽管令很多同龄人羡慕不已，他却只做了三年便辞掉工作，成为了一名职业电脑线上电竞玩家。在游戏中化名梅林尼，通过打电竞（比如《刀塔》）和做电竞比赛解说员，他能够赚取的钱比在贸易公司时多很多。

[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]吴贲的职业发展轨迹代表了电子竞技的发展状况，该项运动正在全球蓬勃开展，尤其是亚洲，那里的冠军和解说员深受追捧。像吴贲这样的人通过玩电游所赚的钱要超过我们大多数朝九晚五工作的人。

[3]In a true testament to how big eSports have grown, look no further than2look no further than只需要看……就够了；没有比……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]想知道电竞发展得究竟有多大，词典是最好的证明。在词典网上，电子竞技（eSports）已被收为正式词条，该词可以用作名词（通常与复数动词搭配），也可以用作形容词：作名词时，指电游的竞技比赛，尤指职业玩家参与的赛事；作形容词时，指电竞的或与电竞相关的，比如电竞活动、电竞赌博。

[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可供争夺的。, are held every year and Chinese teams are a force to be reckoned with.

[4]电竞可以在电脑或移动设备上进行，正如所预见的，后者发展迅猛，尤其在中国。《英雄联盟》全球总决赛这样的大型直播赛事有着数百万美元的奖金，每年举办，而来自中国的各支队伍是一股不可忽视的力量。

[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堪称相当的事物。to Twitch.

[5]如今，像吴贲这样的电竞玩家都是职业玩家，他们辞掉了金融领域令人垂涎的工作，通过玩电游赚取更多的钱。这些玩家都有粉丝，吴贲更是有数千名粉丝在YouTube和Twitch上观看他的在线游戏教学课，Twitch是亚马逊以近10亿美元收购的流媒体服务商。我们估计，现在中国有1亿电子竞技迷。他们在许多视频网站观看直播或在线的职业比赛，那些网站相当于中国的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，虽然目前电竞主要是线上电脑游戏，但是移动端电竞游戏已蓬勃发展，玩家们在平板或智能手机等移动设备上打电竞。

[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]电竞比赛最常见的游戏类别有实时策略类（RTS）、格斗类、第一人称射击类（FPS）和多人在线战术竞技类（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雅达利公司，街机游戏、家庭视频游戏机和家用电脑领域的先驱，1972年由诺兰·布什内尔和泰德·达布尼在美国加州森尼维尔创立。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，业余爱好者就开始举行游戏比赛。1972年，斯坦福大学校园里举行的比赛可算是首个电竞赛事，学生们在电游《太空战争》中互斗，争夺大奖——《滚石》杂志一年免费订阅。8年后，在1980年，雅达利公司举办了《太空入侵者》锦标赛，这是史上第一场大型电游比赛，吸引了来自美国各地的1万名参与者。

[9]The dominance of MOBA games is perhaps the strongest case of all for its legitimacy6legitimacy合理。as a bona fide7bona fide真实的。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游戏之所以在电竞中占主导地位，可能是因为它最真实可信。MOBA游戏直接影响了电子竞技从业余爱好者的单纯玩乐转变成收入驱动的职业赛事。我认为，人们对MOBA游戏的需求正在推动中国乃至亚洲各国网咖的复苏，因为玩家喜欢与他们的5人团队和5人对手团队面对面with their 5-person teams and 5-person opponents, which is how many such games are structured.The use ofinternet cafés bottomed out8bottom out（恶劣局势等）降到最低点。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美国Valve公司举办的Dota 2系列赛事。, with a purse10purse（体育比赛的）奖金。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]电竞世界中最赚钱的比赛是《刀塔2》国际邀请赛，2015年的奖金为1800万美元。与其他体育赛事的奖金相比，电子竞技的崛起（加之《刀塔2》等游戏的影响）一目了然：

• 美国高尔夫大师赛：1000万美元

• 环法自行车赛：260万美元

• 温布尔登网球锦标赛男/女单：1486万美元

[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，五对五也是大多数这类游戏的设计架构。网咖消费在2013年降到谷底，2014和2015年，到网咖玩竞技游戏和观看电子竞技的人数有所增加。

[11]给电子竞技下定义时，关键是要记住，它不仅仅是玩游戏——观看电竞比赛已自成一派。据ESPN报道，与世界职业棒球大赛第七场比赛或NBA总决赛关键比赛相比，观看2014年《英雄联盟》全球总决赛的人更多。仅在中国就有超过1亿的电竞爱好者，他们在线上、现场或电视上观看职业玩家和电竞赛事。

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

[12]腾讯是中国最大的网络游戏公司，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暴雪娱乐公司，美国视频游戏开发商和出版商，总部设在加州欧文，是美国动视暴雪公司的子公司。’sHeroes 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]市场估计，2015年全球电竞市场总额近7.5亿美元，其中几乎一半来自于中国和韩国领衔的亚洲市场。

[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]无可否认，对游戏玩家来说，电子竞技是一个具有极大潜能的世界。随着玩家和观众剧增，数量空前，电子竞技也为各个公司提供了巨大的商机，他们可以投赞助、做广告、卖商品，等等。

[15]“Be Like Mike?”13佳得乐的一个广告片，由美国篮球明星迈克尔·乔丹主演，1992年播出。Who knows…maybe one day Gatorade will be telling us to “Be like Wu.” 最大的互联网公司之一。ESPN和腾讯已达成合作，在中国报道体育赛事。ESPN转播了“宿舍英雄”比赛，该项赛事由大学组队参加，所玩游戏是暴雪娱乐公司出品的《风暴英雄》，获胜者将赢得50万美元奖金和大学学费——2016年的获胜方是亚利桑那州州立大学。

[15]“像乔丹那样？”谁知道呢……没准儿有一天佳得乐会打出广告“像吴贲那样”。