In continuation from Part 1, I would like to continue to address why we continue to play overseas, and share what I ponder and feel every day regarding the current situation of professional gamers in Japan and around the world.

In Part 1, I described in detail two of the five reasons why we continue to play overseas: 1. The Japanese market does not have a mature “e-sports” market, and 2. “E-sports” has low visibility in Japan. I am describing the following three reasons in Part 2.

• 3. The larger the “population” of the target audience, the better
• 4. Event selection as pro-gamer
• 5. We want to continue promoting professional gaming to a wide audience

3. The larger the “population” of the target audience, the better.

As individuals, our resources of time and effort are limited. Rather than working toward actively distributing information and promoting e-sports in the Japanese market, which has not yet matured, I concluded that distributing information overseas where there is a larger target audience (greater reception) is the more rational option.

Many professional gamers emerged in Japan in 2016. Some were awarded individual sponsors, while others earned spots on professional Japanese gaming teams. Such gamers, however, now face challenges beyond strength and performance. That is, in Japan, the professional gamer title does not come with increased popularity (followers) nor increased attention. To be declared a professional, i.e., to master a game and become the best in the world, winning a long sought-after title, and yet not gain popularity or attract attention is, in actuality, a very big problem for a professional gamer.

As a gamer, one of the most important elements in terms of viewership is, in many cases, to win more than anyone else in a game. Yet, as a professional gamer, you want to ensure continual work for years to come, and this requires that you also, at equal precedence, make every effort to expose your name and face to the media to increase your visibility as well as your value.

At present, there are very few cases in Japan in which a person with a firm solution exists on the gamer management side. While teams may well understand how everything works in theory, few and far between are those that have specific know-how and experience in promoting gamers who have low viewership or attracting customers to events. This has led to the current situation in Japan in which we are all waiting for the market to mature, leaving professional gamers few options.

Specific methodologies for increasing such popularity in the future need to address the challenge of winning sponsorships and expanding the audience base to other industries. This is the key. Not being recognized by a worthy opponent is the same as not existing. To increasingly appeal and make ourselves known to those beyond the gaming world requires not only so-called “lion at home, mouse abroad” conduct and communication to those familiar with gaming, but also a communication design and behavior geared toward the wider world.

Unlike when a gamer purely enjoys the challenges of gaming or focuses on playing a fun game to his or her heart’s content, working and making a living in gaming, one must remember, requires more than just playing.

Yet, similar to overseas streaming sites, play-by-play commentators of popular games enjoy a large number of views on the Internet even in Japan, earning high revenue. More importantly, the fact that some of these commentators undertake video production and promotion work for a higher sum than active professional gamers demands our attention. While popular commentators in Japan actively appear on the popular video-sharing website “Nico Nico Douga” in Japan, popular commentators overseas appear on major video distribution platforms such as YouTube and Twitch.

Such commentators, in my eyes, are also professionals who make a living by gaming. While professional gaming teams in Japan mainly receive support from sponsors engaged in businesses related to PCs, PC peripheral devices, Internet services, and games, we have much to learn in terms of getting work from companies positioned outside of the gaming world and creating a stream of money that flows from outside to inside the gaming world.

That said, even if we were to execute such practices in Japan, it would be merely mimicking a road already paved by our predecessors. With this in mind, we have taken on the challenge of promoting our gaming overseas to the vast number of fans and persons on the other side of the screen whom we have not yet met as we explore the possibilities for Japanese female professional gamers capable of promoting their gaming to English-speaking countries.

Gamer Choco giving her autograph to an overseas fan

4. Event selection as pro-gamer.

As a professional gamer, selecting your event (selecting your game) is also critical. Selecting your game in e-sports is the same as selecting your event as a professional athlete in sports terms. There are mainly two options: select the road with few rivals that receives little attention, aiming for the championship as a minor player, or select the road with many rivals that receives much attention in games involving many competitors having a certain level of recognition, aiming for the championship over time.

There are reasons for selecting either option; neither is wrong. A number of professional gaming teams in Japan that debuted between 2015 and 2016 are engaged in “League of Legends,” a highly popular game overseas distributed by Riot Games. When viewed in the medium to long term, this is an extremely rational decision. The same can be said for the many teams in Japan that continually take on the challenge of FPS titles highly rated in overseas markets.

From the “League of Legends” Riot Games web page

To see more global players emerge and achieve popular streamers would be fantastic. While it may still take time for teams to earn top global rankings for famous titles that involve high competition worldwide, there would be nothing more pleasing than witnessing, sooner rather than later, a team from Japan come away with time-honored results in a world championship.

5. We want to continue promoting professional gaming to a wide audience.

Our role is to continuously play as professional gamers. This ensures that we continually behave in a way that makes our presence known, increases our visibility to the general public, and creates opportunities for encouraging interest. We will do our best to make known the activities of our Los Angeles-based US team to both Japan and people around the world. Then, as we make a living as professional gamers, we will make every effort to repay the kindnesses expressed to us by so many individuals and locations, and work to ensure a better future. With such action as well as the activities of the company I currently co-direct (Shinobism Inc.), I hope to serve as an ambassador for professional gaming on a global scale.

Echo Fox, with whom I am currently affiliated, kindly acknowledged my gaming as well as the activities of Shinobism when I transferred teams. I can’t help but be pleased with our achievement of creating in one year a base for assessment from such overseas players and professional gaming teams. I would like to take this opportunity to once again express my gratitude to the members, staff, and related parties of companies who have provided such support, and my deepest gratitude to the players who time and time again attended our offline events.

While the e-sports market in Japan has hidden explosive power and potential, the market still exhibits signs that it has a long way to go. I will continue to select the most rational option for us. While I will always take on the challenge of greater action when progress has risen to the next level, first and foremost is the “now.”

We will continue to promote Japan’s community and messaging, the fun of gaming, and our presence to those overseas, including the US and its already existing market. We will also continue to globally promote the existence of games in and of itself, something we have enjoyed now for nearly half a lifetime, thereby ensuring a wider and deeper spread of games and the joy of games in the broad sense, not just fighting games. And, herein lies my reason for continuing to play overseas.

■ Click here for Part 1.
Professional Gamer Choco "Why we continue to play overseas" (Part 1)

■日本語版はこちら！
プロゲーマー・チョコの「私たちが海外に発信し続ける理由」（後編）

■Related links
CHOCOBLANKA’s Twitter account
https://twitter.com/chocoblanka?lang=ja
SHINOBIsm
http://shinobism.com/