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Pride, not money, the spur for EGames’ King
LONDON: Golf has the Ryder Cup, tennis the Davis Cup and now the fast growing ESports will have the EGames in Pyeongchang in 2018, the main mover behind it, Chester
LONDON: Golf has the Ryder Cup, tennis the Davis Cup and now the fast growing ESports will have the EGames in Pyeongchang in 2018, the main mover behind it, Chester King, told AFP.
The 44-year-old Englishman — chief executive of the International EGames Group — said his wish was for national pride to be at stake rather than it being based around prize money, as is the case with most ESports events.
ESports, in which sedentary competitors play video games, would not be a winner with former International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge, who introduced the Youth Olympic Games primarily because he wanted to get young people enthused about taking exercise.
King comes from a sports background and his family-owned golf club Stoke Park has been the setting for several films, including the iconic golf scene in James Bond film Goldfinger.
He insists ESports players possess a lot of skill and there is no shortage of dedication with the professionals training for three to four hours a day. It is certainly a money-spinning industry, and its revenue last year was over $700 million, $320 million of that in Asia.
Money, though, is not what is driving King.
“I come from this world of traditional sport,” King said after appearing on a panel at the Sport Industry Breakfast Club, supported by MP & Silva. “What I saw in ESports was it has been all about prize money and I was concerned it would end up like poker. If you have children playing it its (the money) not the right thing so like in traditional sport tennis has Davis Cup and golf the Ryder Cup, where the players don’t play for money, I wondered where was the equivalent in ESports.
“That’s where we came up with the concept of the EGames.”
