“‘The global audience for esports is set to reach 300 million people by 2019, and 500 million by 2020. That is no different from real-life sports,’ said Hideki Okamura, representative director of JESU and executive vice president of Sega Sammy Holdings, at a news conference announcing the merger on Thursday in Tokyo.”

“The new organization — which brings together the Japan e-Sports Association,  the eSports Promotion Organization and the Japan eSports Federation — will be tasked with promoting the growth of esports in Japan. JESU will issue professional licenses to competitive gamers in Japan, which it hopes will boost the industry’s development in a country where playing video games is often frowned upon as childish.”