League of Legends, other esports join Asian Games in competition for the first time

HANGZHOU, China: The world of online gaming takes its place this year at the Asian Games as an official event for the first time, with gold medals in play across seven top titles.

The Asian Games has long featured other so-called “mind games,” like bridge and chess, so it’s not surprising that extremely popular — and lucrative — esports are being added to the lineup.

Teams from more than 30 countries are taking part, with South Korea and host China expected to dominate what is anticipated to be one of the most watched events of the two-week Asian Games.

The competition features five PC games and two mobile games, covering both multiplayer online battle arena, or MOBA, and single-player genres.

The lineup consists of: League of Legends, Arena of Valor Asian Games Version (also known as Honor of Kings); Peace Elite Asian Games Version (also known as PUBG Mobile); Dota 2; Dream Three Kingdoms 2; Street Fighter V: Champion Edition; and EA Sports FC (also known as FIFA Online 4).

Competition forms vary with the genre but gold medals will be awarded for each game.

There’s even more at stake for the South Korean players, like Lee “Faker” Sanghyeok, known by many as the League of Legends G.O.A.T. — Greatest Of All Time — where winning a gold medal at the Asian Games also wins one an exemption from otherwise compulsory military service for men.

Esports was first featured at the last Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, as a demonstration sport and proved incredibly popular.

Newzoo, a research company that specializes in tracking the global games market, projected in its annual analysis released last month that the number of players worldwide will reach 3.38 billion in 2023, up 6.3 percent year-on-year, with mobile gaming