Exploring South Korea’s Esports and Gaming Scene
Posted on January 12, 2026 by Jennifer Rader
Jennifer Rader is a International Business major, with a minor in Marketing at the Mitchel College of Business. Jen studied abroad for a semester at Yonsei University in South Korea. In this Article, Jen shares how her love for gaming helped her connect with other students while abroad.
As someone who has grown up with only an older brother, I was introduced to video games at an incredibly young age. I guess one could say I am quite a veteran. The first game my brother introduced to me was Runescape at the ripe age of 5 years old. When I was 8, my brother let me play on his Minecraft account on the computer, and this was the very moment I fell down a whole new rabbit hole of gaming. After buying my own account, I would talk to some of the people I met in Minecraft on Skype and became friends with them. Eventually, in 2015 (around the time I was in 5th grade), one of these friends introduced me to the world of competitive games. That specific game was League of Legends, a game with one of the most viewed World Championships, rivaling that of the Super Bowl.
Fast forward 9 years later in 2024, I’m in the crowd with four strangers I just met in the lobby of my dorm earlier that day at INSPIRE arena in Incheon, South Korea, watching EDG and Heretics go head to head all the way to the end in the final match of Valorant’s VCT World Champions. How did I even end up here? Well, before I left for Korea, I was in a group chat and two Discord groups with a ton of people who were planning on studying abroad at the same University as me (Yonsei University). In these chats, a bunch of us strangers would plan our own trips and excursions together for anyone who might want to join. Over the summer break, I was playing a ton of Valorant with friends to pass the time, and I suddenly remembered how huge Esports is in South Korea. I decided to take a peek at where the next VCT Champions was gonna be, and I was so lucky to find out that the finals just so happened to be held in Korea that year, exactly 2 days after my plane landed in the country. I didn’t want to miss the opportunity, so I immediately jumped on it, asked the group chats who might want to join in on the plans, and kept my eye on when tickets would be sold. One of the people who agreed to go managed to cop 4 tickets for us right next to each other despite how tough it was to buy them.
Historically, since the 90s, South Korea has been a big name in the Esports sphere. Korea is also home to arguably the most famous Esports player, Faker from team T1, known for his exceptional skill, consistent results, and iconic status in League of Legends. A huge reason why Esports and video gaming in general are so popular in Korea is due to its incredibly high-speed internet and presence of PC Bangs. PC Bangs, also known as internet cafes, are usually 24-hour cafes filled with rows of high-end gaming PCs set up for customers to use and play games on for a cheap hourly fee. My friends and I would consistently meet up at our favorite PC Bang, SNS PC in Sinchon near Yonsei’s campus, almost every other night to blow off some steam. We would also order food and drinks on the computers, and the workers would bring them straight to our desks. It was so convenient and great for a late-night snack while playing games. Sometimes when I felt the need to pull an all-nighter on an assignment, I would stay overnight at a PC Bang and use the computer to write my papers.
Whenever there was a big Esports event happening, and we had time, my friends and I would try to find a way to have a watch party or do something gaming-related. One time, we booked an Airbnb for a single day and ordered a ton of food like Korean fried chicken and tteokbokki just to watch the League of Legends LCK Finals. Another time, while we were in the middle of our trip to Busan, we went to a DVD Bang, or Movie Theater Cafe, where we rented a private room with a large projector screen to watch the League of Legends LCS Worlds Finals. Even for Halloween, one of my friends thought it would be funny to dress up as Faker for his Halloween costume. In my final days in Korea, I visited the T1 Base Camp PC Bang in Hongdae with my friends. This PC Bang is home to Korea’s T1-themed PC Bang. Here, they have a T1 and Faker-themed merchandise store, live Esports broadcasts, and menu items themed around the T1 team members. My friends and I wanted to make sure we had the chance to play at least one last game together before we had to leave each other. I would say, immersing myself in the Esports scene more than I ever have before, in South Korea, where Esports has a massive influence, and doing it with the people I met in such an unfamiliar place and have spent every day with, was one of the most memorable parts of studying abroad in South Korea. I really wish I could do it again.
– Jennifer Rader,
Fall 2024, USAC: Seoul, South Korea (Yonsei University)