to a dominance in Counterstrike , Battlefield and Call of Duty , but Overwatch also shows that as long as the game is popular within a certain region , the region ’ s players can succeed on a world stage . At the end of the day , no matter what game you ’ re looking at , these PC bangs lead to two things : More Koreans playing games , and more Koreans playing games for a longer period of time .
This is shown when looking at the population of each League of Legends server : Despite only having 50 million inhabitants , South Korea is the most popular League server , making up more than a quarter of League ’ s playerbase ( 26.2 %). EUW comes in at second , with 23.56 %, despite having ten times more inhabitants than South Korea , and NA places third with 14.64 %, even though the United States and Canada have more than 350 million inhabitants . This manifests how gaming is a social norm within South Korea , but Western regions struggle in comparison . Most importantly , more players in general almost always result in more good players . Due to Korea having the biggest playerbase by far , they are bound to have more good players as well . To an extent , you can even make the same argument about NA vs EU : It ’ s not surprising to see that two of NA ’ s top teams run a European Midlaner , when Europe is bound to have a bigger pool of talented players , due to a bigger playerbase overall .
So why is it that Europe and North America are roughly equal when it comes to international performances , even though Europe should be the stronger region going by this logic ? Here ’ s where the monetary compensation factor comes in : It ’ s common knowledge that NA teams regularly pay a lot higher salaries than EU teams , so a lot of talented European players are going to make the journey overseas based on financial reasons . Look at Bjergsen , Svenskeren or Jensen , or Amazing or Freeze as examples from the past . With top talent leaving , EU is bound to have it harder than NA . Imagine Doublelift and Stixxay leaving their respective region for EU and how much that would hurt the NA region . A huge amount of investors being able to buy talented players from overseas and keeping NA talent within the region , is one of the key reasons as to why NA is able to compete with Europe and other regions .
However , even NA is facing financial issues : Emerging player talent can make more money by streaming League / Overwatch via Twitch , than by actually competing on the big stage . Of course , Korea is prone to this problem as well , but unless your name is Apdo , your chances of making more money by streaming are rather dim . Even though NA is reportedly paying similar salaries to Korea , Korean streamers don ’ t make nearly as much as Western streamers . This is partly due to the notion that in Western regions , fans care a lot about the entertainment value , whereas in Korea there is no greater honour than being able to prove your skills in the biggest of tournaments . Which brings us to the third factor : Dedication .
When Western non-eSport outlets like Business Insider , Forbes or Playboy are reporting on the world of eSports , they ’ re shocked to realize that Western players have to undergo a strict training schedule of practicing at least eight hours a day . Eight to ten hours is the average amount of time expected of Western players . Korean players clock in at 14 to 16 hours a day . Depending on the team , no weekend breaks . And for some teams , unless they win the championship , players aren ’ t even allowed to have girlfriends . Despite this looking ludicrious to Westeners , it ’ s the reality for many professional players in Korea . While many Western players like to look at their career as a fun way to make money , for many Koreans , like former AHQ ADC Promise , playing games is “ life or death ”. This difference in dedication makes a huge difference when it comes to performing on the big stage .
Don ’ t take it from me , listen to what one of eSports most praised figures , Faker , had to say about his training schedule : “ In our team , we train around 15 hours a day . And even then we had difficulties in our spring split . Other teams from South Korea really got better recently . I think this kind of rigorous and passionate training is why korean teams are so strong .”
The discrepancy in terms of dedication is baffling , yet understandable . If you ’ d expect a teenager to work 15 hours a day in the West , especially when they have to spend the time in front of a computer rather than outside , you ’ d have child services at your heels pretty fast . Rightfully so , because Korean training practices are simply not applicable in a first world Western country , due to humane reasons .