E-Sports — A new kid in town
Traditional sports are really challenged by esports and that’s a fact. The debate whether it can be called sports is ongoing, but there sure is a new kid in time. And it’s here to stay and it with big ambition. The newbie has tournaments and leagues with young guys behind computers playing games like Dota 2, Counter-Strike and other games with no affection to traditional sports whatsoever.
In the USA the big three (NFL, NBA and NHL) are rethinking its strategy and all started a parallel esports league with the same franchises. They accepted it is impossible to ignore but instead it is time to accept and react to get a piece of the pie. The NBA 2K will start this year and is currently recruiting 85 players for 17 real-life NBA clubs. Players will have access to training facilities of the club, get housing by the club and are treated like their offline colleagues.
BIGGER THAN TRUMP
The popularity of esports is huge. The finale of the 2017 World Championship (Intel® Extreme Masters) in Katowice just set a new record for live attendance — more than 173,000 attendees — that’s about 100,000 more than the Superbowl last year. It reached more than 46 million unique online viewers. To put that figure in context, the Trump inauguration TV audience was 30.6 million.
Through live streams, highlight clips, and custom features on both Twitter and Facebook, the World Championship reached 55 million fans on social media channels.
“Intel Extreme Masters Katowice shattered all expectations with record-breaking attendance and viewership,” said Frank Soqui, General Manager of the Virtual Reality and Gaming Group at Intel. “The gaming community’s passion for esports was on display and Intel is proud to continue delivering the best gaming experiences to fans around the world, whether that’s with IEM tournaments, driving growth in VR content, or improving how people play with Intel processors and technology.”
KURO VS CRISTIANO
Esports mix reality with a futuristic, immersive experience for viewers. Fans can interact directly with their idols and with every reply, the connection between them is solidifying. The use of interactivity in virtual reality and chatrooms is at the very core of its existence. The barrier between Kuro Takhasomi and his fans is much smaller than Cristiano Ronaldo and his fanbase. Kuro’s fans play exactly the same game as their idol and that will never be possible for every kid who is dreaming of playing in Santiago Bernabeu.
The rise of esports has created a liquid expectation in entertaining, interactive and technological innovation that can not be ignored. Sports have to be fast, entertaining and constantly innovating. How many teenagers of today do you think will still watch a 5-hour cycling race in 2030? They will be the first generation that was never used to waiting for entertainment.
The business model of regular sports is quite simple. It is based on transfers, merchandising and sponsorships and a lot of goodwill of some billionaires. Esport developer studios and tournament organizers use crowdfunding to operate. In-game purchases and a clever mechanism called Compendium are used to fund a prize pool for professional tournaments. The small barrier and the attraction of large prize money create fan engagement pur sang.
Let’s hope our children don’t think the smell of sports is only Red Bull, computers and leather seats and forgot sweat, grass and beer. Or maybe I’m just too traditional.
