A Critical Look at the Ecosystem, Part 2: How to Build a Solid Talent Development Structure
Find Part 1 here.
Part 3: A quick (academic) look at the esports ecosystem
Amongst industry academics and practitioners alike it is general consensus that the esports ecosystem is still in its infancy (Brockmann 2011; Taylor 2012; Hollist 2015; Zarrabi and Jerkrot 2016). For example, in one of the most comprehensive works on value creation within esports, Zarrabi and Jerkrot (2016) identified the lack of regulations and standardisation across tournaments, unclear boundaries of actors, as well as the ambiguous competitive landscape as the most obvious indicators for an underdeveloped industry.
The more attentive readers will have noticed that some of the above-mentioned references are already 5–6 years old. However, they do reflect the same important message: some aspects of the esports ecosystem have developed much faster than others. Sponsorships, distribution channels, casters, prize pools — these are all aspects of esports that have made a gigantic leap in professionalism (and simply growth) in recent years. Governing bodies, player support structures, and amateur and semi-pro scene support, however, have fallen behind.
It looks like the classical build-up of a speculative bubble. What’s visible to the outside (e.g. casters, prize pools, sponsorships) has improved drastically. It leads us viewers to assume that what looks professional must be built on a sound structure. But that’s not necessarily so. Don’t worry, I am not here to scream ‘THE END IS COMING!’ — I am not a Doomsayer (get it?). Fact is: things need to change. And while it’s not Do or Die time just yet, we may be hindering future growth and stability by not doing enough.
Below is an illustration of a simplified esports ecosystem.
While simplistic, the illustration does highlight that the key actors within the esports ecosystem co-create value, not only for the end-consumer (the audience on the far right side) but also for each other (Lusch et al. 2010; Seo 2013; Saren et al. 2013; Zarrabi and Jerkrot 2016).
What has not been fully integrated into this framework is the development of organisations that look to standardise and regulate the competitive environment (e.g. WESA, Esports Integrity Coalition). This may be due to the fact that these organisations are quite new and it is still difficult to estimate the impact that they can actually have on day to day esport operations. Not only that, but the very structures of some of these organisations have already caused serious concern and trouble within the industry (read here).
In a perfect world, all of the above-mentioned actors would adhere to DEFTC — and esports would be flourishing left, right, and centre.
By the way, Jonathan Pan has written some amazing articles about the esports ecosystem over the last couple of years. I strongly recommend you check out some of his posts such as this one from 2015.
Part 4: Building a solid structure for talent development
So we know why we play esports games, we know that there are millions of people playing competitively on a non-pro level, we know that the esports career path is not as clear as a traditional sport career, and we know that academics and practitioners alike believe that the esports ecosystem is still in its early stages.
In a recent academic journal, Llorens (2017) compares the Sports and Esports ecosystem and argues that one of esports’ most pressing social questions is how the young amateur scene is going to be supported to consistently bring up new and diverse talent. I agree with Llorens, and I would specifically say that the semi-pro scene needs to improve on its Cooperation, Transparency, and Efficiency.
Cooperation
Value co-creation is big in esports and as such, I would argue that cooperation is the most developed success factor in the industry. People and organisations tend to stick together because they all push towards the same goals: professionalise and grow esports. It’s an industry that we keep close in our hearts — a hobby turned career. Yet, we have to be careful that we don’t let some parts of our network starve. I would personally like to see greater cooperation between:
- game publishers and semi-pro leagues
- team orgs and player associations
- entrepreneurs and the semi-pro scene
You may not have expected the last one, but this one is really important to me. The amateur and semi-pro scene are largely untapped markets. There are literally millions of people out there who love playing competitive video games. They all have needs and wants which, by the way, go beyond just having another tournament/matchmaking platform. We need to ask more and listen more closely.
Transparency
That’s a tricky one. I wouldn’t say the ecosystem is cloudy or incomprehensible for the uninitiated. If you sit down with someone who has never heard of esports before, and you talk them through the basics of what an esport game is and how people compete, they will understand. But again there are aspects that I would like to see more transparency in:
- organisational structures (who owns what & who has a stake in what) — If you don’t already do, follow Richard Lewis. Among other things, he’s a fearless investigative journalist who has been majorly involved in some of the most recent industry revelations.
- semi-pro teams need to show players more clearly where their salaries will come from and how they intend to make money. Denial Esports recently made the news, and not in a good way.
- player contracts (luckily there are many new projects starting up here such as this one, featuring retired LoL pro Marcel ‘Dexter’ Feldkamp)
Efficiency
The biggest issue I have with the current ecosystem is its inefficiency in consistently bringing up new talent. In a 2015 interview with RedBull, LoL pro sOAZ said “The only way for a new player to prove themself [sic] to pro organisations is through Solo Queue” — other pros such as Rekkles have echoed this as a ‘best practice’. Doesn’t this sound deeply troubling?
Yes, amateur and semi-pro players can join tournament platforms such as the ESL, FaceIT, and ESEA — but that surely can’t be it? There are too many players out there for this to be the only go-to solution. And the argument that it’s a climb doesn’t work here. In traditional sports its Regional to Global but we don’t have that in esports, remember? The esports career ladder that you need to climb… it doesn’t have any rungs.
If you make it to the top of a game’s ladder it will most certainly get you on the radar of pro teams — but esports is not only about the top 1%. What about the semi-pro teams that look for top 1000 players or players who have shown great learning and growth potential but haven’t made it beyond 3999 SR in Overwatch? These guys and gals are great catches for semi-pro teams that don’t have the resources for large salaries or buy-outs. They also might make for a really cool rags-to-riches story and that’s the kind of storytelling content that fans can identify with.
In an article for Esportsedition.com, Oscar Izquierdo puts it quite well in terms of how this current system will likely play out:
“While a growing scene and increasing pool of dedicated players may be a potential hurdle for up-and-comers, there’s an undeniable positive to the situation. […] If player buyouts continue to grow, lower-tier organizations will be forced to invest in talent from the semi-pro scene. As the scene grows, so does the level of opportunity for semi-pro players.”
I agree with Oscar’s argument, however, I do not think that we can just leave it up to teams to come up with a solution. Just as players, teams rely on a wide range of approaches to find suitable talent.
This is not only time consuming but also resource-heavy (both the search and integration of a new player). Time and other resources — talk about things that semi-pro teams don’t have.
Conclusion
I think the semi-pro scene needs something more tangible, something that players and coaches can point at and say “Here. This is me. This is what I have to show for.”
In my conversations with semi-pro and pro team managers, it simply came down to this: the rank you achieve in any given game does not determine your fit for a team. Motivation, inter-personal skills, mindset — these were all aspects of a player’s persona that teams said were equally or even more important than raw skill. If you can show that you are resilient, that you are self-motivated and great with people then you will be much higher up on the list of players that teams want to pick from.
But enough from me now.
What do you think? How can the esports ecosystem and specifically the talent development in the semi-pro scene be improved?
- Every pro team should have an academy team?
- Greater institutionalisation of talent development? (e.g. training facilities — online or maybe even localised in actual, physical facilities?)
- More non-pro tournaments and leagues to support the semi-pro scene? — But then, how will the semi-pro scene sustain itself? Will the leagues be streamed and will enough people watch them to make this a sustainable business model? Where does the price pool come from?
- All of the above, or maybe… something else?
Let me know what you think. I want to listen more closely.
TL;DR
Academic
- In a regular sports career you go from Regional to Global. In esports you go from ??? to Global. Currently, a career as an esports player is simply not as straightforward and transparent.
- The esports ecosystem development is still in its infancy, meaning there are many more actors to join and improvements to be made before we have a sound structure and industry backbone to build on.
- Common success factors of business ecosystems are: Cooperation, Transparency, Decentralisation, Flexibility, Efficiency.
My own opinion
- Esports, and specifically the semi-pro scene, needs greater cooperation between game publishers & leagues, teams & player associations, entrepreneurs & semi-pro scene.
- More transparency is needed around ownership and structures of esports organisations, player contracts and the financial sustainability of teams.
- The semi-pro scene needs more efficient talent development structures that offer advanced solutions for talent scouting, recruiting, and professionalisation of talent profiles.
This article can also be found on The Esports Observer.
Thank you for taking the time to read my third article on medium 👏. For opinions, critique, and ideas for improvement please leave a comment below or message me on: Twitter • LinkedIn
