“Last year was the worst of my TEKKEN career.” The emotional words posted by the veteran TEKKEN 8 player raises a question: How “old” is old age for esports competitors?
Bae "Knee" Jae-Min's recent victory at the EVO Japan 2025 is now a statement of how far you can get if you never give up. The South Korean has been competing since 2010, and now, 15n years later, he's still lifting trophies.
After his exciting comeback victory against Han "Mulgold" Jae-gyun, the TEKKEN 8 champion took to X to post an emotional letter about his recent achievement. There, he explained how hard it was for him to adapt since TEKKEN 8's release. He also celebrated how he managed to earn this crown at almost the age of 40.
Immediately after this post, fighting game personalities started praising Knee, the 2025 EVO Japan champion. The streamer PhiDX said, "I'm so inspired," and the former EVO finalist, Kayane, congratulated him, saying he "deserve[s] it so much."
After all, Knee started losing 2-0 and reverse-swept his match against Mulgold into a 3-2 victory. But this is not the first time the legendary player lifted a trophy this year. He was also part of Team Korea, the winners of the Tekken Nations Cup.
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How old is "old" for esports?
Despite how impressive it is to see Knee get the EVO Japan 2025 title at the age of 39, he is not the only experienced success story. Across multiple fighting games, we can still find legendary names active and dominating.
- Hajime "Tokido" Taniguchi, age 39 (SF6): Got to the Top 8 at the Capcom Cup 11, on March 08.
- Daigo Umehara, age 43 (SF6): Competing since 1998, still considered a Tier 1 competitor.
- Ryota "Kazunoko" Inoue, 37 years old (SF6): Also played the EVO Japan 2025, got to 3rd-4th place at the most recent World Challenge Cup.
- Xiao Hai, age 36 (FF:CoW): The SNK Official Tournament in EVO Japan 2025 champion. Qualified for the SWC 2025 Finals and the Esports World Cup 2025.
But for other esports titles, an "old" player is considered to be in a younger range:
- Clement "Puppey" Ivanov, age 34 (Dota 2): Legendary captain and winner of the first The International in 2011. Still actively competing for Team Secret.
- Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo, age 33 (CS2): Veteran Latin American name, still representing Brazil with the successful Furia Esports team.
- Koh "GuMiho" Byung-jae, age 32 (SC2): StarsWar 11 3rd-4th place and back-to-back HomeStory Cup winner. Currently playing the Group Stage 2 of the Global StarCraft II League, Season 1.
So, to answer the question: it depends. For Knee, the EVO Japan 2025 champion, 40 years old doesn't look like "too old for esports." However, it depends on how young the top players are in your title. For Dota 2, the Na'Vi Junior squad is playing at the highest level with 16- to 18-year-old players — a similar story for CS2 and League of Legends.
However, in titles that have been around for longer periods, like StarCraft and many fighting games, "young age" is around 20 to 25 years old. So, we could say the "old age" across esports is above 32 years old.
This makes Knee's victory an emotional one: maybe, if we keep playing, trying hard, and enjoying competing, it's never too late. We are never too old.
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