Esports Little More than a Name to Most in Japan

Japanese research firm MyVoice Communications conducted an online survey on gaming and esports in February, receiving responses from over 10,000 people.

It found that around 35% of respondents felt they knew what esports were, while roughly 44% had heard of them, but did not really know what they were. In total, 79% of people had some awareness of esports.

Only 21% of respondents had not heard of esports—compared with 57% in July 2018. In 2018, less than 18% percent of respondents knew what esports were—a figure that has now doubled.

The survey also asked if respondents had played video games in the past year, either on a smartphone, PC, or dedicated gaming machine. Overall, around 40% of people surveyed had played a game in the past year. Of those who had, 22.5% said they played almost daily—outnumbering those who played only a few times per week, per month, or less.

Only minor changes were noted from the previous survey, with a 4% increase in people who played almost daily and a 3% drop in people who had not played a game in the previous year.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo: The 2020 League of Legends World Championship—an esports tournament held in Shanghai in October 2020. © AFP/Jiji.)