California is known as the unofficial skateboarding capital of the U.S., Silicon Valley for technology, Vegas for gambling, New York City is the international financial capital of the world, and Paris is the fashion capital. So is there a capital for esports? The simple answer is “no.” Sure, many cities are well on their way to becoming capitals of sorts, and these cities have everything it takes to be considered capitals.
But to say any one city is the esports capital of the world is simply false. Seoul, Korea has been home to a vast majority of Starcraft competitive action for over a decade. But nobody playing Call of Duty would consider South Korea the esports capital of the world. On the other hand, Starcraft pros in Seoul wouldn’t accept the idea that Las Vegas was considered the esports capital of the world, because that is untrue, for them.
There will likely be thought to be multiple “capitals” of esports. After all, there are plenty of great candidates. To be considered for such a title, you would need some big companies there that are dedicated to putting together tournaments, at least one arena that can house around or over 10,000 spectators, and is available for tournaments to be held, and you would need the demand to be high, with potential for people to want to visit for the esports scene.
There is a surprisingly good case as to why Atlanta may become the esports capital of the world, or at least of the U.S. It’s the home of TBS and ELeague, who have built a 10,000 square foot arena dedicated to esports events: the ELeague Arena. Having an eastern timezone means fans in Europe don’t have to stay up quite as late to watch events live. It’s cheaper than L.A. to host events, and only a four-hour flight from any major U.S. city. Atlanta certainly sounds like a good place for American esports pros to call home.
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Los Angeles is home to Blizzard, Riot Games, and Activision, the creators of the three biggest titles in esports: Starcraft, League of Legends, and Call of Duty. They also have the Staples Centre, which has hosted the League of Legends Season 3 World Championship finals. It sold out in less than an hour, and that’s 12,000 seats. It’s clear that the demand is high in LA.
Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Las Vegas, the self-proclaimed Entertainment Capital of the World, is an obvious choice for an esports capital. Vegas is built to accommodate large numbers of people, and has proven this during some of the largest UFC fights to date. People flock there with their pockets full to play games and gamble. With the growing popularity of betting on esports, you can be sure that Las Vegas certainly wants a piece of the ever-growing esports pie.
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Seattle is another home to some big names in gaming, such as Microsoft, Valve, and Nintendo of America. Popular events like PAX Prime and the Dota 2 International are held in Seattle.
European sports have long gravitated towards London being the spot for major tournaments. Esports doesn’t seem to be too different in this case. London is the home of Gfinity and a dedicated esports arena, and has hosted large scale esports events such as the LCS quarter finals for Worlds at Wembley.
Cologne, Germany
Cologne has been hosting competitive gaming tournaments since the early 2000s. ESL One, Gamescom, and the Intel Extreme Masters Tournament are centered here, and it’s one of the biggest cities for League of Legends and CS:GO pros worldwide, perhaps the two biggest esports titles at the moment.
Berlin, Germany
Although Cologne has been a great hub for esports events in the past, Riot moved their Germany office and LCS studios from Cologne to Berlin. “Although Cologne has been an awesome home for us for the past year, we couldn’t be more excited about the move and to usher in a new season of EU esports in our brand new base,” Riot stated in 2014. Since then, Berlin has hosted many esports events, and will continue to do so.
Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Stockholm, Sweden
Dreamhack, the world’s largest and most famous LAN, has been held in Stockholm for two decades. The city was well ahead of the curve in embracing what would eventually be a worldwide craze. Even if Stockholm does little else for esports, Dreamhack likely isn’t relocating, as its attendance grows every single year.
Seoul is a juggernaut of esports popularity and reach. Starcraft blew up in Seoul, in a way that is purely unbelievable. Playing Starcraft is a viable career in Korea. Pros move to Seoul just to play Starcraft because the scene is so huge there. Starcraft is in fact the unofficial national sport of South Korea. The Sang-am World Cup Stadium in Seoul hosted the League of Legends World Finals in 2014, and housed over 45,000 fans. This stadium had previously been used to host the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
As you can see, there isn’t even really a single capital in any one country! Esports has been spread across many different cities and nations. But traveling to different places is one of the joys of competition, right? You get to defend your home city or country, while also having the opportunity to visit new places.
As more and more communities are becoming part of the online global gaming community, countless more “esports hubs” will be popping up. And we can’t wait.
