South Korea is undoubtedly one of the most powerful players in the Esports industry – almost all popular Esports have a strong presence of South Korean professionals among their top players. Esports also play a big role culturally in South Korea: it is a national sport like soccer is in Italy.

Despite being relatively small geographically, South Korea has had no trouble dominating large parts of the sports world. Statistics show that over half of the 51 million or so people who live there play video games – leagues above comparable countries.

A global phenomenon
The contributing factors are mostly cultural – similar to other Asian countries, there is a lot of pressure on young people to succeed academically. Video games and sports are seen there as a positive way to recover from this stress.

While in the West there is often prejudice against Esports as a waste of time, the attitude in Asia is quite different. In South Korea, Esports are considered a perfectly acceptable hobby and have long since even become part of high school and college education. While not all Korean schools support video games as a subject, many do – and careers in the Esports industry are viewed no differently than one might imagine a career in media management. This is a theme that is starting to catch on across Asia.

Global success
This grassroots approach to normalizing the Esports industry and nurturing gaming talent in South Korea means that many – Season ed players with years of experience are competing against Western teenagers who have only recently taken up the hobby – so it’s no wonder that many Esports leagues are dominated by Korean players.

Other differences include the way players who succeed are treated. Since Esports is considered a national pastime in South Korea, popular players get the same kind of sponsorship deals as a soccer player – they appear in ads, promote products, and so on.

Their welfare is also more of a focus for organizations –South Korea is one of the leading forces in the fight for a fair and healthy work environment and contracts for professional athletes. The country was one of the first to address this issue and even founded the International Esports Federation or IESF.

A different environment
It is worth noting that Esports has a different face in the country itself. While games like League of Legends or Overwatch are popular, StarCraft II is also among the top titles – something that can’t be said about the West.

In general, RTS titles and similar strategy games are popular there – and Esports takes a much bigger role in South Korea than in the West.

Overwatch

Overwatch is a computer game by Blizzard Entertainment (Diablo 3, World of Warcraft) and a first-person shooter with individual fantasy elements. The game was released in May 2016.

In Overwatch, the player must choose between 21 unique characters, which can be freely selected in a loosely held classification system (offensive and defensive class, support unit and tanks).

A character’s three to four different abilities can be controlled and activated through the mouse and keyboard. The game modes already vary from scoring points to cargo hauling. Team play is required in both modes, as each character takes on a specific role in the battlefield (e.g. heal teammates, provide backup, or secure defensive lines).

The name Overwatch derives itself from a fictional elite military unit that came together when robots tried to subjugate humanity in a near future. Individual characters are associated with this unit in the game, while others oppose it. It is not yet known whether the storyline will continue in multiplayer.

Brawl

Brawl is a game mode in which time-limited rule variations of the well-known modes are drawn. Sometimes completely new game modes are used in Brawls.

Rule variations include, for example, the restriction to certain heroes or classes, changes to the cool-down times or certain cards. New game modes that have been playable so far include a soccer game and a PvE mode.

Usually, Brawls are restarted as Brawl of the Week every Tuesday at 22:00 UTC and are then playable for a week. On certain occasions, such as – Season al events, Brawls may also be playable for a longer or shorter period of time.

The game mode is comparable to the card chaos from Hearthstone and was activated for the first time in the beta phase on March 22, 2016 through a patch.

Actions

• Arcade: More health, shorter skill and ultimate cooldowns, and faster resurrection after death.
• Girl Power: Female heroes only.
• Head’s Up!: McCree, Genji, Hanzo, and Widowmaker. Only head hits count.
• High Noon: High Noon on Route 66, only head hits with McCree count.
• Highly Offensive: Only offensive heroes. Limit is two of the same hero per team.
• Junkenstein’s Revenge: Soldier, Hanzo, Ana, Mc Cree only (1 each). The first co-op PVE mode in Overwatch. Part of the – Season al event Halloween Horror.
• Justice rains from Above: Only Mercy and Pharah playable.
• Moba Watch: Only unique heroes per team. No hero switching allowed.
• Mystery Heroes: Upon death, you will be resurrected as a randomly selected Hero.
• Overly Defensive: Only defensive heroes. Limit is two of the same hero per team.
• Show Your Support: Support Heroes only. The limit is two of the same Hero per team.
• Super Shimada Bros: Welcome to Hanamura. Only Hanzo and Genji are playable. Shorter skill cooldowns, longer ultimate cooldowns.
• Tanks A Lot: Tank heroes only. Limit is two of the same hero per team.
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Only McCree, Reaper and Roadhog playable.
• We’re all Soldiers now: Only Soldier: 76 playable on control cards.
• Lucioball: Lucio only: Soccer mode, 3 vs 3.
• Yeti Hunt: Five meis against a yeti that has the characteristics of Winston.

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