SK Telecom enters Singapore’s and Thailand’s e-sports market

SK Telecom has signed a contract with Singtel and AIS to form a joint venture that will provide a platform for 800 million Asian game players, the company said Sunday.

The three companies have agreed to create a global game community such as Steam Community that is visited by 150 million game lovers every month. Based on SK Telecom’s expertise in operating an esports team called “T1” and Singtel’s and AIS’s experience in hosting esports games, they will explore new business opportunities such as live broadcasting esports games in virtual reality and providing views of multiple players at the same time. They will also work together in media entertainment such as to offer game media content, which has professional esports players as main characters.

The new joint venture is planning to launch a new platform for game content consumers who “watch games” by the end of this year, rather than developing new games. SK Telecom, Singtel and AIS have agreed to make the same amount of investment and evenly split shares and rights in the company.


yes@donga.com