Samsung, LG bet big on gaming monitors on esports boom

South Korea’s electronics giants Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. are gearing up for a fierce battle in the gaming monitor market. They're poised to take big strides over the next decade as esports gain popularity around the globe.

Compared with office monitors, gaming monitors are equipped with more sophisticated features and specificiations such as higher refresh rates and faster response times to deliver a smooth gaming experience.

They maximize the visual quality of the graphics card and central processing unit output when games are played, and they are typically priced higher than standard monitors.

Despite their bigger price tags, demand for gaming monitors is rising and is expected to continue to grow, driven by the booming global video game and esports industry.

ESPORTS FRENZY

Esports — short for electronic sports — refer to competition using video games, mainly multiplayer video games, such as League of Legends, StarCraft, Overwatch and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), played by professional players individually or as teams.

It has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry and global affair, with competitions taking place around the world.

Last year, it was added as an official sports competition at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will host the first Olympic Esports Games next year.

Korea is regarded as the cradle of esports, but Saudi Arabia is now at the fore in promoting it by organizing an annual international esports tournament series, the Esports World Cup.

The world’s two most populous countries, India and China, are also behind the expansion of the esports industry given that their under-30 population make up some 60% of their total population, posing huge growth potential.

Fortune Business Insights forecasts the global esports market growing to $9.3 billion by 2032 from $1.7 billion in 2023.

TWICE AS BIG GAMING MONITOR MARKET

Propelled by the esports boom, the gaming monitor market is also set to grow rapidly.

According to Future Market Insights, the global gaming monitor market is expected to nearly double to $18.4 billion in 2033 from $9.8 billion in 2023.

Because gaming monitors are priced as much as double that of standard monitors — leading to higher profitability — monitor sellers are betting big on them to lead the market.

Currently, Korea's Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics lead the premium-spec gaming monitor market, while Taiwan’s Asus and US-based Dell dominate the entry- and mid-range market.

Samsung and LG commanded 20.6% and 14.1%, respectively, of total global gaming monitor sales in the first quarter of this year, according to global intelligence firm IDC.

SAMSUNG AND LG ON THE FRONT LINE

Earlier this year, Samsung and LG launched organic light-emitting diode (OLED) gaming monitors to up the ante in the market.  

Samsung sold more than 20,000 units of its latest gaming monitor models, the Odyssey OLED series in just one month after their launch last month.

LG’s Ultragear, released in April, was named the official gaming monitor brand of the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2024, which will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from July 3 to Aug. 25.

Following the leading players' moves, Asus and Philips have also rolled out OLED gaming monitors.

The race to win the gaming monitor market is expected to further intensify among monitor makers ahead of the world’s first Olympic Esports Games next year, industry observers said.

Write to Chae-Yeon Kim at why29@hankyung.com
Sookyung Seo edited this article.