Niko Partners sees growth for esports in Asia.
Niko Partners sees growth for esports in Asia.
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Niko Partners: Esports generated $519 million in Asia in 2019, growth continues in pandemic

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 2 min

Esports generated $519 million in revenue in 2019 in Asia, making it the No. 1 region in the world for such revenue, according to a report by market researcher Niko Partners. The growth continues in 2020 despite the pandemic, though Niko does not have a specific forecast for this year.

Overall, Niko found that Asia generated nearly half of all global esports revenue in 2019, hosting big events like Riot Games’ League of Legends Championships. Niko said that there are 510 million esports fans (defined as those who watch at least once a month) in Asia, with 595 million esports players. Mobile esports games in Asia generated $13.3 billion in 2019, 68% of global mobile esports games revenue.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.