What You Need To Know About The Rise of E-Sports in Indonesia
Research conducted by POKKT, Decision Lab, and Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) earlier this year stated that there are more than 60 million mobile gamers in Indonesia. If we talk about the rising of e-sports, it’s not only about mobile games. The category stretched to console-based devices, such as Playstation, Xbox, and PC.
There are several reasons considering the rise of mobile gamer’s number in Indonesia. First, the smartphone price tag is getting affordable. If you only have IDR 3 million, you will find several smartphone devices that qualified to play several titles. If we compare to the gaming console, like Playstation 4, at least you need IDR 5 million. Meanwhile, for PC, more varieties. The more sophisticated the components inside, the more money you must spend.
“Assembling a PC for gaming can cost you almost US $ 1000 or more. That’s only the device. Meanwhile, it would be best if you still had chairs, tables, internet networks, and enough space. While smartphones, you only need US$ 200, data packages, and power banks, “explained Giring Ganesha, President of Indonesia E-sport Premier League.
Second, the primary network in playing online games is also more evenly distributed. The government, along with cellular network companies, continue to do distribution of systems throughout the nation. In a sense, game players from any city will experience the same experience and speed.
Third, the price of a mobile game is affordable when compared to a PC or console game. The majority of mobile game titles can be downloaded for free. Most of the mobile game developers apply the freemium concept. Users can play the game for free, but they have to spend money to be able to polish the character as cool as possible.
Still, gamers have to experience the changing of playing preferences from single player to multi-players. In the era of console devices, it can only be played by two players at maximum; to play up to four players, it requires additional tools. While in the era of mobile gaming, one game can be played up to hundreds of players and the same time and server, without the need for additional devices.
At the moment, many game titles are starting to be contested. Both are based on mobile or PC devices and console games. Call it games like Mobile Legends, Free Fire, and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG). These three game titles are the most popular in Indonesia today.
Referring to the 2019 E-sports Market Trend study by DailySocial, the top five most popular game titles in Indonesia today are Mobile Legends from the developer Shanghai Moonton Technology. PUBG Mobile and PUBG from PUBG Corporation, a subsidiary of Bluehole. Free Fire made by Garena. And DOTA 2 from Valve Corporation.
Mobile Legends is ranked first for the most played game today and followed by PUBG Mobile and Free Fire. In fourth place is FIFA, and PUBG is fifth.
It is interesting if we understand the habit of Indonesia gamers. Of the 1445 respondents, 43.6% claimed to play the game every day. As many as 17% of respondents play it 4–6 times a week. And, 13.6% play it 2–3 times a week.
Regarding duration, the majority of respondents spent 31–60 minutes each time they played games. For weekdays, the most used time is from 6 pm to 9 pm while the weekend starts from 9 pm until 12 pm.
The main reason many people play games is that they look for the entertainment side (65%), feel challenged (46.4%), exciting gameplay (42.8%), and smooth graphics (40.4%). There are differences in preferences between men and women, male respondents prioritize smooth gameplay, rather than graphics while the opposite is preferred by female respondents.
Interestingly, recommendations from nearby colleagues attracted more interest in people playing games (31%) than recommendations from gamers influencers (15.9). In fact, at this time on YouTube and Facebook, there is a lot of video content related to the games of influencers and content creators, both in the form of reviews, tips or just simply sharing the game playing experience.
Even influencers or content creators don’t have a big role for people to play games. The fact is that their content is selling well for the players and non-gamers. As many as 22.3% of respondents claimed to enjoy game content every day. 20.6% of respondents watch 2–3 times per week, and 16.9% of respondents enjoy it 4–6 times per week. With a duration of 15–30 minutes and 31–60 minutes. This indicates that e-sports is not only enjoyed to be played, but also to be watched.
The reason they watch this type of content is looking for the entertainment side (57.3%). For those of you who are unfamiliar with content like this, in addition to showing off their expertise, many content creators highlight the entertainment side, starting from playing style, joking with others (sometimes they invite their followers to play together), to curses.
Like Christino Ronaldo and LeBron James in real sports, these E-sports athletes have a strong and loyal fan base. E-sports team factors and favorite E-sports athletes are the next reason for respondents to watch their content.
For the game titles that are watched most today is Mobile Legends, PUBG Mobile, Free Fire, PUBG, and FIFA. YouTube (84.6%) is still the leading platform for people to enjoy game content, followed by Facebook (24%).
In Indonesia also began to emerge video platforms that specialize in the type of game content. On the platform, athletes and content creators can play with their fans and interact directly. One of the most popular in Indonesia is Nimo TV (21.7%) and Cube TV (17.3%) even though Twitch dominates the video platform for game content globally, Indonesian showing less interest in watching it on the Twitch platform.
How Your Brand Can Enter the e-sports ecosystem?
The gaming industry is currently the entertainment industry with the most massive income in the world, beating the film and music industry. The revenue of the gaming industry is three times bigger than the film industry, and seven times that of the music industry. The Mobile Legends game, since its launch in 2016, until the middle of 2018 alone has reached US$ 200 million in revenue while PUBG recorded revenues of US $ 920 million in 2018.
Unfortunately, Indonesia is currently only a consumer. Game developers in Indonesia have not been considering as big players. Even in their own country. Whereas in 2030, Indonesia could enter the top five countries with the highest potential for e-sports in the world with a value of US $ 4.3 billion.
According to Arief Widhiyasa, CEO of Agate, currently, of the entire gaming industry in Indonesia, only 8% has entered into local companies. While for domestic production, the game is only 0.4%. Foreign players dominate others.
The main problem is in the investment flow, the company, and also the existing human resources. Agate, in collaboration with Telkom Group and Melon formed a game ecosystem platform named Oolean. Oolean was formed to build a game ecosystem in Indonesia, including developing market share and growing local Indonesian game developers.
“Agate’s contribution to this strategic partnership is to develop the game industry. From publishing the game, developing technology, and helping to form and run an incubator needed to develop market share for local game companies,” Arief said.
Besides Telkom and Agate, several local companies have paid more attention to the development of this industry. Gojek launched the GoGames platform. GoGames is a one-stop gaming ecosystem in Indonesia so that millions of gamers can enjoy a variety of exciting features and content designed by and for players.
“There are still many problems faced by gamers that have not been reolved. Such as difficulty in getting information and playing strategies, how to improve skills, how to choose the right items and limited payment options to increase the level of games,” explained Head of GoGames Timothius Martin.
GoGames presents three features, namely GoGames Top Up, which makes it easy for users to get promo information, discounts, as well as top-up. GoGames TV that displays curated video content around games. And, GoGames Recipe which presents articles containing tips and tricks for gamers.
“Through GoGames, we try to answer the various needs of gamers by presenting a variety of features, ranging from the ease of top-up games to tips and tricks on playing strategy games. Everything can be accessed in only one platform, “added Timothius.
Not only that, Salim Group, through its subsidiary AKG Games, has a partnership with Blizzard Entertainment, a developer and publisher for the game World of Warcraft. In addition to bringing Bilzzard’s games to Indonesia, AKG Games opens up the possibility to expand its collaboration with Blizzard for the development of game ecosystems in Indonesia.
The Indonesian game industry still needs much development. However, support and collaboration between the government, the private sector, and the players in the industry have been going well. The government supports an increase in e-sports in terms of competition, game development, regulation, and curriculum in schools.
For Giring, there are many ways for brands to entering the e-sports ecosystem. It can be entering the competition by holding an own tournament like Vivo, Tokopedia, and Red Bull. Or, be a part of the game itself.
“In the last Presidential Cup, Moonton Technology (developer of Mobile Legends) presented an exclusive Gatot Kaca skin, which only existed specifically during the President’s Cup. Brands can engage with the game through the developer, “explained Giring.
Apart from these two things, another way is to approach athletes or e-sports teams to carry out a variety of mutually beneficial collaborations. Pop Mie made this approach last March in partnership with two local e-sports teams, EVOS and RRQ. J&T Express did the same thing.
So, you are ready to participate in developing this industry?
