Gaming up for Esports in Asia

Hong Kong based esports technology company CAPSL Entertainment launches tournament platform to nurture gaming talent in the world’s fastest growing gaming market.

Esports has undergone tremendous growth over the past decade. Not only the number of gamers has skyrocketed, esports tournaments have also become a new form of entertainment for both gamers and spectators, coupled with an enormous marketing opportunity for brands targeting the hard-to-reach Gen Z audiences.

“Global market share for gaming industry has gone from 90 billion US dollars about five years ago to 130 billion dollars today, and the absolute center of that growth was generated by esports and mobile competitive gaming,” said Paddy Markham, founder of CAPSL Entertainment, a Hong Kong-based esports technology company.

“There is a massive mobile penetration and gamer community in Hong Kong,” he added, “and now it’s about translating that passion into professionalism.”

CAPSL recently launched BAASH, a mobile-only competitive gaming platform. BAASH enables anyone, including grassroots tournament organisers to set up and launch their online league on mobile devices in less than 30 seconds, generating revenue in a safe, scalable manner. BAASH uses its unique set of proprietary technologies to automatically extract match results in real-time without dependency on game developers and publishers providing that data. The platform aims to serve as a launchpad for gamers looking to grow a career in esports, just like any world’s legendary athletes.

Esports industry development supported by Government

CAPSL set up its headquarters in Hong Kong based on its proximity to target markets. “Hong Kong provides a strategic location for us in Asia, which is the heart and soul of the gaming industry,” said Markham. “We are on the doorstep of Mainland China which records the highest esports revenue globally, plus only a few hours flight away from Southeast Asia which is one of the fastest growing markets in the games industry.” Markham is pleased to see that the local Government is putting more resources to support and grow the esports industry in Hong Kong. This helps to create more awareness for esports, and the potential of raising funds from institutional investors. Markham prefaced this with some caution, “this push, including gaming events and conferences, needs to be maintained. Consistency and continuously aiding the many other initiatives are key to ensuring growth in the local games ecosystem,” he added.

According to Markham, Hong Kong has been historically a launchpad for many international game titles. “A lot of companies choose to soft launch their game titles here in Hong Kong before entering the Mainland China market. Hongkongers are massive gamers especially with mobile devices. We get to employ multi-lingual, gaming enthusiasts with international experiences to support regional business activities from Hong Kong. We are still expanding the team.”

He added that the city also amasses many MNC headquarters, which makes a big pool of potential esports sponsors. “There is an increasing number of brands wanting to capitalise on the growing gaming market. Our platform offers an entry point for brands to access Gen Z audiences with an extremely engaging platform,” he remarked. “Being in Hong Kong allows us to easily access these brands and have face-to-face conversations about collaboration opportunities.”

CAPSL has recently expanded its office premise which houses different functions of staff including UX and UI specialists, marketing, graphic design, business development and administration. The Hong Kong office also manages its engineering team based in the Philippines. After the official launch of BAASH in the Philippines in the first quarter of 2020, the company is looking to further expand penetration into other Southeast Asian markets, while at the same time scaling over 30 esports game titles in the platform by the end of the year, before eventually introducing the platform to the China market. The company is also eyeing the opportunities arising from the Greater Bay Area and is exploring the potential of setting up a development studio in Shenzhen.