Success in eSports: Does Country Matter?

Abstract

Competitive computer gaming, known as eSports, has become popular, resulting in an increase in the number of gamers and prize earnings. Unlike traditional sports, eSports does not depend on the physical abilities of participants and participation costs are low. Our goal is to test whether country differences exist in eSports. We examine the relation between a country’s tradition of playing eSports, country characteristics, and performance in eSports. Our data set consists of the top 500 gamer prizes awarded in eSports tournaments for the period of 2004–2014. We use a regression analysis to test the joint hypothesis of country effects significance. Despite the unique features of eSports, we find evidence of country effects similar to traditional sports. Our results show that country effects for top tournaments are stronger.

Keywords: e-sport, esport, sport, gamers, socio-cultural characteristics, computer and video games, prize

JEL Classification: Z13, Z20