The biggest cash prize goes to the winner of mobile game Monster Strike at 8 JPY million ($73,000). Game Party Japan 2018, at Makuhari, in the Tokyo suburb of Chiba, began Saturday and continues through Sunday as the first e-sports event after JESU was set up. That means big money can be legally up for grabs at tournaments, expected to spring up here, with powerful sectors at work to make sure e-sports is booming in Japan. The union has won the backing of Japan's game software makers as well as technology companies, such as video-sharing niconico. Japan E-sports Union, or JESU, was launched February 1 to promote e-sports, issue licenses to professional players in Japan, standardize rules and qualifications and support and nurture future players.

Global e-sports fans are estimated to number 500 million by 2020, according to game-market researcher Newzoo. The rising stars at the sprawling Makuhari Messe hall are the quietly seated men in hoodies and T-shirts, with names like Noppi and Refresh, jiggling on buttons and grimacing at screens.Į-sports has officially arrived in Japan.Īlthough Japan is home to video game giants like Nintendo, Sony and Bandai Namco, massive game fans as well as individual star game players, it's surprisingly behind the rest of the world in e-sports - professional game-playing recognised as a sport that's vibrant in the US and Europe.īut with talk that elite computer gaming may become an official Olympic sport, Japan is determined to catch up.Į-sports has become a medal event at the 2022 Asian Games, a sign that mainstream recognition is growing. A crowd cheers, banging on balloons, in front of glitzy stages, each with a giant screen.

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