The Emerging Esports Markets You Should Be Watching

For most of its history, discussions around competitive gaming were very limited geographically; it was primarily focused on three major regional locations. The South Korean region was (and still is) by far the dominant region when it comes to competitive Starcraft and early League of Legends. China has rapidly grown to be one of the most influential regions for many of the top esports titles. North America and Western Europe have historically provided much of the financial support through sponsorships as well as the operational structure needed to run events. This geography of influence will shift in the next few years.

All of these have unique points of origin and sets of structural advantages. The similarity among them lies in their trajectories. They are getting investment; there is growing talent locally; and there are existing audiences. The issue for all three will be how quickly that supporting infrastructure can follow.

The MENA region (Middle East & North Africa) has rapidly developed into one of the leading regions for investment in esports betting sites. This includes Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games Group making several prominent acquisition and sponsorship deals; along with Saudi Vision 2030 identifying gaming and esports as a key area of focus for future economic development and cultural promotion. The Esports World Cup held in Riyadh has brought together many top level competitors across all of the major titles and provided prize pools which are on par with those found at some of the largest tournaments around the globe.

It is important to understand that this growth is not simply organic. Rather it represents accelerated growth by the government of each country involved. As such there are positives and negatives associated with accelerated growth including whether or not this can be sustained over time. Regardless, there is no doubt regarding the number of people watching. A large portion of the MENA population is under the age of 30, smartphone penetration is extremely high and an existing gaming culture exists within these countries. Historically, however, there was not a corresponding competitive gaming culture. That gap is rapidly being closed.

Latin America: Organic Momentum Behind the Numbers

Latin America has an entirely unique tale to tell. The development in this area does not come from Sovereign Wealth Funds. This development comes from an avid fan-base as well as an avid player-base that has long been neglected by the Global Esports Industry. Garena, the developer of the number one Mobile Title (Free Fire) in Brazil and most of Spanish-Speaking Latin America, has made significant investments in Regional Tournament Infrastructure.

The strengths of Latin American esports will be:

• A very large and competitive Free Fire Ecosystem with quality Local League Play
• The growing League of Legends LLA Viewership, especially through International Qualifiers
• Brazilian CS2 Talent competing at the highest Global Level
• A Growing Stream Culture that Drives Discovery and Converts Casual Players into Esports Viewers
• Increasing Local Sponsorship from Regional Brands that Previously Ignored Esports

While Brazil still remains the foundation; Mexico, Argentina and Colombia have developed their own Competitive Scenes with Dedicated Audiences, instead of solely being influenced by Brazil.

Sub-Saharan Africa: The Longest Runway

Africa is a developing economy and has far to go, however the numbers are hard to dispute. Africa has the largest percentage of youth in the world; this is one of the largest demographics available in terms of gaming. In many areas mobile device usage is growing as desktop availability is becoming less available. Titles such as Free Fire and Fifa style games have large popularity. However, there is a need for unification in the competitive landscape as well as funding. Tournament organizers, who are often run by local individuals, have been organizing tournaments in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and Ghana with little to no financial backing from external organizations.

However, the lack of infrastructure (consistent internet access) is true. Prize pools are relatively small and while corporate sponsorships exist they are generally focused on other regions. Publishers recognize the player base is available and several publishers have added qualifying rounds for their major titles into their African markets. This represents an awareness that monetizable viewership will soon be available.

South Asia: Recovery and Scale

The ban of PUBG Mobile from India’s esports market in 2020 created major damage. Battlegrounds Mobile India, which replaced PUBG Mobile for the Indian esports community, regained much of that audience as the Indian esports market recovered and diversified over the past few years. In addition to that recovery, many Indian gamers have developed a large competitive fan base for Valorant, and with such an enormous population size, India can provide massive player numbers through moderate or low levels of user engagement.

Central and Eastern Europe: The Talent Factory

The CEE (Central & Eastern Europe) area has long had a strong source of talented CS2 and Dota 2 players; countries such as Poland, Ukraine, Czech Rep., and Romania have been producing many of the world’s top-ranked players for years. However, while there has always been an abundance of player talent from this area, it has traditionally lacked one major thing – money. In other words, local leagues and teams in the CEE region would typically export their best players to either western european orgs or to north america. While in 2026 we see more interest in building regional brands and retaining some of that same player talent at “home”, those interested in where esports is headed in the coming 5 years should be paying attention to these 5 areas.