The Crazy Laws Keeping Japanese Out of Video Game Competitions
- Decades-old law lumps video games together with video poker
- Lobbyists say the legal knots could take years to untangle
Competitors at the AOC Open e-Sports event in Tokyo on July 1 battle over a total purse of $4,300.
Photographer: Akio Kon/BloombergSpectators packed a Seattle arena and 5 million more went online to watch a video-game tournament this summer in which winners each earned $2.2 million, about as much as tennis pro Rafael Nadal won at this year’s French Open. Players came from all over the world but, as usual at these events, none were from Japan, the country that practically invented video games.
Competitive video gaming is huge business. In China and South Korea, stadiums are being built for it. In the U.S., promising gamers win college scholarships and NBA teams pay athletes to sit in front of computer screens and compete at virtual basketball. By 2020, total revenue from e-sports will reach $5 billion annually, almost as much as the world’s biggest soccer league today, according to market researcher Activate. London bookmakers place the odds at 4-to-1 that video games will be in the Olympics by 2024.