The Thai Embassy in South Korea will broadcast a special esports friendly match live on Facebook for Thailand Game Day on June 11.

The event -- the first of its kind to promote Thailand’s gaming industry in Korea -- will feature a League of Legends: Wildrift friendly match between two up-and-coming esports teams from Thailand and Korea.

Thailand and Korea both have large domestic game markets. In 2020, Korea’s market was estimated to be worth $16 billion -- the fourth-highest figure in the world. Thailand’s is valued at around $667 million, placing it at No. 19 in the world and No. 2 within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Yet according to the Thai Embassy, Thai gamers are still mostly consumers of Korean games. Thai game developers still haven’t gained significant market access here despite having tapped the US, European and Southeast Asian markets.

Thailand aims to promote its gaming industry to stakeholders in Korea’s gaming industry, create opportunities to enter the Korean game market, and strengthen ties among gamers, game developers and other stakeholders in Thailand and Korea.

The event will consist of three sessions. The first will showcase promising new games from Thai developers, the second will feature webinar interviews with the developers of four Thai games -- Home Sweet Home, Bounty Brawl, Mass Builder and Timelie -- and the third is the virtual competition between Thailand’s Buriram United Esports and Korea’s Team Olympus.

Esports commentators will provide commentary in Thai and Korean. Aisha, a virtual idol, will perform songs in both languages.

On Thailand Game Day, the embassy said, participants can learn about 20 Thai games representing all genres: action, survival, role playing, casual, strategy and simulation.

By Sanjay Kumar (sanjaykumar@heraldcorp.com)