Games, including complex ones, go back a long way in human history. I've seen various claims about how much free time people have in primitive societies and I don't know enough to really know which are correct. The modern style of chess play relies on having openings books and computer assistance, but that's less true of go, which AIUI is learned largely through practice and a cultivation of taste and instinct (and the pieces can just be a set of stones and a grid scratched in the dirt).
Games may have existed, but the relative skill level of the players was likely a lot lower when people weren't spending as much time mastering the game, spreading and consuming strategy knowledge, and constantly holding events to compete and refine the best players.
I think the entire analogy is stretched a little thin of the players requiring all of this, but I also think the original attack on the Go AI based on it's mass is off base as well.
