Relevance of e-sports to video game competitions prior to the 2000's

Abstract

This presentation examines how e-sports, which is currently the focus of much attention, has taken shape over the years, comparing it to gaming competitions prior to the 2000's.This is because, in researching game magazines and other media at the time, it became clear that the structure, rules, and format of e-sports tournaments and matches were similar to those of fighting game tournaments using facilities such as the Kokugikan and Makuhari Messe.In addition to the large-scale video game competitions mentioned above, small-scale video game events were held in video game arcades and game stores at the time, and the applicant believes that some of the elements of these events were also incorporated into e-sports. However, looking through the previous studies related to e-sports, we do not see many studies that focus on the transition from video game competitions to e-sports, but rather studies that refer to the economic effects of e-sports, legal issues, and so on.Therefore, I believe that conducting a historical transition of video game competitions and e-sports in Japan from the perspective of media studies and cultural history research is very significant due to its rarity. In my presentation, I will mention the differences and common problems, referring to materials of game magazines and industry journals at the time as necessary, and mention what lessons need to be learned from the past cases for the development of e-sports.