ISSN: 2225-8329
Open access
The eSports event brings significant contributions beyond monetary values and tourism benefits. This study of online gaming or eSports has become extremely popular as a catalyst for socio-economic growth not only globally but also in Malaysia. Stimulatingly, there are government bodies such as the Malaysian Ministry of Youth and Sports; abbreviated KBS as well as the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) conducted a specific study on the eSports industry with a full-fledge focus on the eSports Strategic Plan and Asia Gaming Growth. However, from a far-reaching perspective, with no specific policy or clear guideline regarding eSports event, many issues or risks could arise especially among the major eSports stakeholders involved. Thus, the study of proper eSports event safety and risk is deemed to be under-researched. This paper brings forward the idea of the safety and risk in the eSports event industry. Existing reviews of eSports event literature showed that previous studies had demonstrated significant issues impacting host destinations, predominantly in the area of safety and risk such as doping, cyber-attacks, hacking, and health. These issues will not only affect the eSports events globally, but it deprive Malaysia of becoming Asia’s top eSports events hub. Based on an extensive literature review, there is a noticeable paucity of past studies that explored eSports events in Malaysia and a lack of literature on safety and risk issues in the Malaysian context. Thus, this paper aims to explore the potential gaps in the Malaysian eSports event industry based on the extensive literature from 2010 to the recent ones. A qualitative approach is utilised to achieve the study’s aim as the aims will assist the eSports events industry stakeholders specifically in Malaysia, and worldwide. This study will make an original contribution to academic and practical contributions. The findings will shed light on future studies that lack research in the area of the eSports events industry, not only in Malaysia but globally.
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