The growth of the ‘eSports’ gaming phenomenon

Computer games have always been big business. From the early days of Pac-Man to Mario Bros and more recently open world multiplayer games such as Grand Theft Auto V, gaming has evolved into a billion-dollar industry. Now a new phenomenon has emerged into the mainstream with competitive computer gaming.
 
‘eSports’ as it is more commonly known, has grown exponentially in recent years and, given its growing popularity, is attracting big money and big corporate brands. International games market specialist Newzoo predicts that by 2019 the global eSports audience will have grown to 215m and $1.1bn in revenues.

Like traditional sports, such as football and the World Cup, eSports has its very own global tournaments; the Capcom Cup and the Evolution Championship Series (EVO) are two of the biggest.  More than 100,000 gaming enthusiasts watched the final of the 2016 Capcom Cup online via Amazon’s gaming site Twitch, while last year’s EVO tournament had more than 5,000 competitors fighting it out for a chance to win the $50,000 prize money.

But while Street Fighter may be the flagship title in the fighting game genre, its online following and participation pales in comparison to some other eSports.  Last year, a 20,000 strong crowd gathered at the Staples Centre in LA to watch the 2016 championship final of League of Legends with the winners of the tournament taking home a staggering $2m purse.

Unsurprisingly, the considerable cash prizes on offer are helping to attract more and more players to eSports, which in turn is increasing the value these events to video games companies and consumer brands looking to tap into what is fast becoming a lucrative market.
 
Money is also pouring in from advertisers and major sports channels eager to broadcast the tournaments. Giants such as Coca-Cola, Nissan, Red Bull and Intel have all jumped on the eSports sponsorship bandwagon and for the 2016 Capcom Cup the broadcast rights were sold to ESPN for an undisclosed sum.

Although non-sports games such as Street Fighter, League of Legends and Counterstrike still dominate the professional eSports market, more traditional spectator sports such as football gaming are embracing eSports.
 
Closer to home, the English Football Association’s very own eSports tournament, ‘Every Gamer’s Adventure’, is being staged for a second year in 2017 and in November last year the French Professional Football League agreed a broadcast deal with beIN Sports and Webedia to show games from the inaugural season of its eSports football league, e-Ligue 1.

Football clubs are also signing their very own eSports players to represent them in tournaments such as Manchester City FC signing 18-year-old gamer Kieran ‘Kez’ Brown. The move followed rival Premier League football club West Ham United’s signing of 2016 Fifa interactive World Cup runner-up Sean Allen.

With global football brands such as Manchester City and Manchester United entering the eSports arena, traditional media companies are starting to sit up and take notice with Sky broadcasting the UK’s first 24-hour eSports channel from summer 2016.
 
As the Gateley Sports Sector team has huge experience in advising competitive sports in their traditional form, we are well positioned to apply this knowledge to the developing commercial, legal and regulatory landscape that will form part of the business of eSports.
 
The eSports market has some way to go before it gets anywhere close to generating the same revenues, player earnings and viewing figures of some traditional sports. That said, if it keeps growing at its current rate, the gaming stars of today may well be the Ronaldos and Rooneys of tomorrow.