E-sports in Turkey within the context of globalization

Aim: This study investigates the globalization of e-sports, which is witnessing a rapid growth in popularity all over the world and in Turkey thanks to the steps taken to that end, with the aim of evaluating the current status of e-sports in Turkey. Material and Method: This phenomenological study, in which a qualitative research method is adopted, involved a total of 25 volunteer e-sports enthusiasts, including 13 university e-sport association members, six professional e-sportsmen, three e-sports club managers, two e-sports trainers and one e-sports organizer/publisher. A 24-question semi-structured interview form prepared by the researcher was used for the collection of data in the study, and the data were uploaded into a Nvivo 10 program for content and descriptive analyses. Results: The analysis of the research data identified six sub-themes, namely "Characteristics of E-sports", "Personal and Environmental Factors Directing People to E-Sports", "E-sports Organization", "E-sports Economy", "E-sports Culture" and "E-sports Law Awareness Level", that were associated with the main theme of "Globalization and E-sports". An analysis of these sub-themes revealed the existence of a potential group of people with an interest in e-sports in Turkey who spend a lot of time playing e-sports. E-sports was further revealed to be a global tool that is unaffected by geographical, demographic and physical boundaries, thus maximizing participation, unlike with traditional sports. The negative findings of the analysis, on the other hand, included family criticisms of e-sports, inadequate investments into e-sports, non-specific legal limits, e-sports contracts, and the league rules developed by transnational game companies that own the rights to the game in question, which makes the institutionalization of e-sports complicated and makes it hard for federative structures to create a global rule system. Conclusion: The e-sports ecosystem, with all its potential opportunities and deficits in Turkey, is beset by many sectoral and socio-cultural uncertainties. The acquisition of local digital game producing companies by transnational game companies reduces their potential to become global actors in the e-sports industry, even though e-sports investments and devotees are increasing in number every day. This is turning Turkey into an e-sports product and service consumer rather than a producer, ensuring the country is seen as just a crawling baby from a global industrial perspective. Key Words: E-sports, globalization, e-sportsmen, e-sports games, e-sports organization, qualitative research.