Marketing Strategies and User Experience Analysis of Offline E-Sports Events

With the rapid development of the e-sports industry, online e-sports events can no longer meet the demands of most audiences. Offline e-sports tournaments have become mainstream, attracting and retaining fans while generating economic profits. Beyond the broad reach of online streaming, offline events serve multiple functions, including emotional consumption, social engagement, and brand marketing, offering a unique social atmosphere and user experience. Taking popular domestic offline tournaments (such as KPL and IVL) as examples, this paper employs case analysis to examine four key dimensions of user experience—sensory, emotional, social, and service—to analyze the marketing strategies of offline esports events (both traditional and experiential marketing), dissect the various factors influencing audience attendance, evaluate the value operations of major IPs and players, and propose optimized marketing strategies for offline e-sports. The study finds that commercial monetization in offline e-sports relies more heavily on experiential marketing; however, an imbalance often exists between marketing activities and user experience—ticket scalping, forced advertising, and inadequate service remain significant barriers to event growth. Only through mutual alignment between commercial marketing and user experience can both revenue generation and fan retention be achieved. This paper aims to provide practical insights for offline e-sports event operations, helping tournaments better serve their fan base.