eSports Industry?
I just read, an article on Bloomberg, "Why Competitive Video Gaming Is the Hot New Thing".
I didn't realize how big the competitive gaming industry was, but evidently it is huge.
People really watch other people play video games?
Yes, by the hundreds of millions. Instead of testing physical strength and stamina, competitive video-gaming tests how fast players -- they prefer "gamers" -- can click buttons and think strategically. In the past few years, competitive video gaming has exploded and is now projected to exceed $1 billion in sponsorship, advertising, media rights, merchandising and ticket revenue by the end of the decade. Ad revenue comes from pop-up videos and banners on streaming websites as well as traditional commercials on cable TV channels.
In addition, many companies are investing in competitive gaming.
Who’s investing? Major companies (Amazon, Coca-Cola, Walt Disney), entertainment-industry executives and owners of traditional sports teams.
Unsurprisingly, there is also gambling.
Is there betting? Lots of it. Unlike traditional sports, which commercialized while fighting against gambling, esports embraces it. The esports betting handle (total amount of bets taken) was $1 billion in 2016, by one estimate, and could hit $23 billion in the next few years.
I do not fully understand the competitive gaming industry, but from reading the article I think that competitive gaming will continue to grow.
What are your thoughts on competitive gaming? Do you think competitive gaming is a fad? Do you think that it is a wise move for Amazon, Coca-Cola, and Disney to invest in competitive gaming?
A lot of people take one look at esports and disregard it but it's the real deal. I expect a ton of growth in the next decade, especially on the cusp of VR which has some sick implications for gaming in general.
Yeah, I believe that technological advancements will benefit esports as well. Despite the expected growth, I struggle to see how it will compete with the NBA or MLB. What do you think?
Highly doubt esports will get viewers close to any major sports (maybe MLB way down the road, I hear it's regressing but I could be wrong) in our lifetimes. Maybe in a future far far away esports could overtake those major leagues but imo that's so far down the line it's impossible to predict.
I think your reaction is pretty typical. A lot of companies are throwing time and money at monetizing it and trying to be early movers in what they insist is the Next Big Thing.
The problem right now is that no one knows what the hell it is. These early movers aren't doing themselves any favors pumping out constant press releases about ELeague and Dota 2 and Valve and all this other mumbo jumbo. I get analyst reports and I haven't seen any research has attacked it from this angle -- but I would wager that most people who have heard of esports think it's something restricted to sweaty basement-dwelling millenial autists. Likely not far off the mark, but not a great place to dump capital. More investment is definitely needed toward educating the marketplace on what it is, and making the concept itself seem normal and less autistic, before running headlong at going mainstream with something that appears to the average American to have crawled out of the darkweb. Not sure what the answer is, but why not get creative. Celebrity Mario Kart starring the Kardashians on ESPN 2?
Anyone entering the esports space needs to show that it's not any different than watching NBA or NFL. Think about it. Let's assume there's significant overlap between the core demographics of pro sports consumers vs. those with a propensity to consume esports. You have a huge cohort of males, age 20 - 35, in both circles on this hypothetical Venn diagram. What percentage of pro sports consumers actually play the sports they watch in real life? What percentage of males age 20 - 35 play Call of Duty, League of Legends, World of Warcraft, CS? Then taking it a step further, why should esports not be expanded beyond games that only appeal to those with thousands of hours to spare to become competitive and that are instead accessible to broader demos, along the lines of Candy Crush? If my bringing Candy Crush into the mix sounds outlandish, it isn't; esports involving casual mobile games is indeed a thing in Asia. The popular conception that pro sports are "real life" (LOL) and esports is fantasyland needs to be addressed by anyone who wants to monetize the latter.
Personal note - I think investing much time in watching either pro sports or esports is a waste of life unless you're making money playing them or at the sports book. But to each his own.
Thanks for your thorough thoughts and analysis!
You're a generation away I would guess in the U.S. Each generation is more receptive but there's enough people perpetuating negative stereotypes about video gaming to suppress wider scale acceptance of the industry imo.
Do you think that video games have similar perception to pot users? I.e. smoking/playing in parents basements.
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