The development of electronic games and sports in Kenya for the last decade has taken a faster pace with more young people embracing video games and other electronic sports. The entertainment value from the E-sports has been one of the driving factor of this fast popularity. Games such as league of Justice which are most common among the players also provide an avenue for exploration, feeding the curiosity of the adolescent teenage minds. From the commercial perspective, hundreds of gaming lounges have been established across the country where kids can go and enjoy the video games.
The passion for this electronic sports and games have also been gradually tapped for commercial benefits by sports betting companies that offer the diverse range of games on their gaming platforms where the players get an opportunity to earn from engaging in the competitive online games. With new developments in technology primarily from Japan , South Korea and China the competitive development of this games has seen the prices of acquiring this game become more accessible as the products are now more available online at cheaper rates. For South Korea, the E-sports elite academies provide the model for emulation by other countries like Kenya that seek to tap into the economic poetical of E-sports such as the participation in the E-Sports world championships.
Some of many challenges to the acceptance and adoption of E-Sport in Kenya is the conservative thinking that games are distractive to young learners who expend their energy and time towards gaming. For parents that hold this view, it is also imperative for them to perhaps assert limits and offer guidance on indulgence with the electronic sports rather that an outright total ban. For the cost of gadgets such as the headsets or joysticks or control panels and huge screens needed, the impediment still remains to be resolved.
The potential however, is quite immense and more investment and research in the E-sports sector needs to be undertaken for better development that brings benefit to the community collectively.
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