For many of today’s youth, the nostalgic memories of playing catch outside and riding bikes many millennials treasure will be replaced with bright flashing screens and rapidly smashing buttons. The rise of video games has caused a clear shift from sports to screens; however, the division between these two, originally distinct, activities has blurred. E-sports are rapidly growing in support and are doing so despite clearly contrasting many traditional sports established practices.
As detailed in my classmate Spencer Ang’s blog, many e-sports tournaments have prize-pools which can total in the multi-millions of dollars, but in general player salaries are low. This system is contrary to that of traditional sports where athletes are often paid astronomically high salaries but receive smaller bonuses. The e-sports model decreases the misplaced incentive that individual-performance based pay has on athletes and instead rewards team work. Furthermore, unlike traditional sports where sponsorships are mostly limited mainly to commercials and endorsements, e-sports sponsorships are blatant and often teams are named after their sponsors–a perfect example of this being the 2016 League of Legends World Championship Finals in which SKT Telecom competed against Samsung Galaxy. This encourages companies to invest in sponsorships as they will receive much more visibility than if they were to sponsor a different sport.
E-Sports live events such as the League of Legends World Championships pictured above have become popular destinations for many enthusiasts.
Another key way E-sports is changing the face of sports is through the channels fans are reached. Unlike many tradition sports which can only be viewed live or on TV. E-sports are often streamed online for free. This allows the studios that produce the games to attract new players and sell more merchandise by reaching a broader audience. However, the market for watching e-sports live is not to be underestimated. The League of Legends World Championship Finals—mentioned above—managed to sell out the entire Los Angeles Staple Dome in less than an hour . Despite the success of these live events, League of Legends game maker Riot Games is still losing money on these large scales events. Therefore, Riot is investing heavily in the short run on large scale events in the hopes that they will create an immersive e-sport culture that will lead to customer retention and future profitability.
The meteoric rise of E-sports has been on the radar of many business investors world-wide with high profile businessmen such as Mark Cuban and Robert Kraft having already invested in the industry. As technology becomes increasingly integrated in to our lives, the line between sport and video game will continue to blur and the industry still has much room to grow. However, it remains to be answered whether e-sports are a lasting trend or just a fad.
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