Ukraine has recognized professional video gamers as athletes.
Now, esports is an official sport in the country, the Ukrainian Esports Federation announced on Sept. 7, saying the decision had been discussed for a year by the federation, the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and the International Esports Federation.
“Sept. 7, 2020 is a new, important date in the calendar of each Ukrainian gamer,” the Ukrainian federation’s statement reads.
Esports — when people compete in video games like “League of Legends,” “Dota 2,” “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive,” “Fortnite” and others — are now considered a non-Olympic sport.
This simplifies the visa application process for foreigners who want to come to Ukraine to vie for an international video game prize. Local esports organizations can now register legal entities in Ukraine and hire local players more easily.
The fact that the government now takes esports seriously means that this $1-billion industry may bring additional profits to the country’s economy.
For example, Ukraine can attract foreign investments and host esports tournaments with large audiences, while Ukrainian players can go to international esports competitions and apply for visas as athletes, rather than as tourists.
Ukrainian businesses will benefit, too. Now they can register their companies as sport organizations. Previously, in order to work in Ukraine, they had to register abroad, including in Cyprus and Hong Kong.
As of now, 90% of the esports companies are registered in offshores, where taxation and legislation are better than in Ukraine, said Maksym Bednarsky, the founder of Esports Club Kyiv, an esports team that competes in “Counter-Strike” tournaments.
Bednarsky’s company is based in the U.K. because it is unprofitable for them to keep a Ukrainian legal entity: Ukrainian laws make it difficult to receive tournament cash prizes with Ukrainian bank accounts.
“The industry can become promising for the economy if the right steps are taken in the legal area. The players should be able to register legal entities and conduct economic activity without any schemes, private entrepreneur accounts and so on,” he said.
According to the Ministry of Digital Transformation, esports has “millions of followers” in Ukraine and its players are recognized abroad. But locals still perceive the sport as worthless and unhealthy.
Now it will be different, because esports organizations can officially work on different projects with the government, promote their activity and organize competitions in schools and universities, said Oleg Rybalka, a board member of the Ukrainian Professional Esports Association.
According to Rybalka, Ukraine can become a European mecca for cyber-sports. It has high-speed internet with affordable prices and professional esports teams like Natus Vincere, known as NaVi, which are recognized around the globe.
Ukrainian cities have many potential venues to host esports events too, but investments are vital to develop specialized esports arenas, according to Eduard Anokhin, operations director of the Ukrainian Esports Federation.
On July 15, Ukrainian entrepreneur Alexander Kokhanovskyy, the founder of NaVi, bought Kyiv’s central Dnipro Hotel together with unnamed partners for $41 million to turn it into an “esports ecosystem.”
In an interview with the Kyiv Post earlier in August, Kokhanovskyy said that the hotel will offer rooms equipped with huge screens and high-end computers and will provide venues for esports events or tournaments.
The Dnipro will be the first hotel in Europe entirely dedicated to esports.
Following a meeting with Kokhanovskyy, Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers Oleh Nemchinov announced that he would encourage the growth of esports in Ukraine because it can bring income to the state budget.
“Ukraine is very attractive in geographical, practical and pricing terms. This, of course, opens up new opportunities and prospects,” Nemchinov said.
Although the Dnipro Hotel purchase and the increased attention by Ukrainian officials to esports happened just recently, they are not the reason why Ukraine decided to give esports the status of a real sport, said Rybalka.
“It was a fortunate coincidence,” he told the Kyiv Post.
