Esports Market Watch: December 2016
Player’s Rights in Esports
Twenty five players of the Professional Esports Association (or PEA) wrote an open letter detailing their disagreements over being forced not to play in ESL Pro League (EPL). This is the first major unionizing move by esports players in recent history and may foreshadow the creation of a players’ union that would negotiate with teams and leagues going forward.
The PEA was launched in September with seven North American esports teams and they planned to launch a CS:GO league in January 2017. That is now in jeopardy given ongoing discussions with the players. The PEA has publicly offered their players to play in either EPL or PEA next season, but not both.
PEA touted itself as an organization that would bring “unprecedented benefits to pro players,” offering a 50/50 revenue split between players and owners and including player representatives on their decision making board. PEA was the North American answer to the World Esports Association (WESA), which is an esports organization formed by European esports teams in May. WESA is closely aligned with ESL, which operates the EPL.
The PEA League would be the fourth major CS:GO league to start, after EPL, ECS (operated by FACEIT), and ELEAGUE (Operated by Turner & WME/IMG). In the open letter, the players revealed that the PEA asked WESA to “vacate” North America. Most industry experts agree that the CS:GO tournament space is oversaturated, leaving many tournament organizers with a razor-thin margin, if any at all.
One of the first results of this player rights conflict is popular CS:GO player and in-game leader Sean Gares being released from Team Solomid (TSM). Gares was one of the most vocal proponents of the #playersrights movement. His firing has put TSM’s CS:GO ambitions in jeopardy and TSM’s owner Andy “Reginald” Dinh said in an interview that he cares more about his team’s success in the CS:GO scene than PEA starting a new league that the community seems to dislike.
Other team owners have not responded to that statement but it is clear that there’s still a lot of turmoil in this space. It is important to monitor what happens with TSM’s participation in PEA in 2017 and if PEA will launch a league at all in 2017. The consequences of this will expand beyond just one game as players of other games take note of how these battles over power and rights play out in the court of public opinion, which is very important in esports.
Investments & New Entrants
12/01: Houston Rockets hire director of esports
12/09: White House and Twitch host gaming marathon
12/13: Boom.tv raises $3.5M for 3D livestreaming platform
12/15: VR esports developer Drifter raises $2.5M seed round
12/20: F.C. Copenhagen enters esports by signing CS: GO roster
12/22: Puji Capital invests in aXiomatic, Team Liquid’s holding company
12/22: RFRSH Is looking to invest €30M in esports
Industry News & Partnerships
12/05: Amazon hosts Champions Of Fire Invitational
12/05: Sega video games to be adapted for film And TV
12/06: Will Ferrell to star in esports comedy movie for Legendary
12/08: 20th Century Fox focuses on “Assassin’s Creed” film
12/08: Riot Games World Championship viewership slowing
12/12: Twitch gives Evil Geniuses and Alliance their independence
12/14: New NBA 2K17 All-Star Tournament tips off New Year’s Eve
12/14: Skillz reaches 100M total mobile tournaments hosted
12/15: CSL partners with college sports media company
12/20: Milwaukee Bucks owner purchases NA LCS spot
Interesting Reads
12/01: How esports are pioneering new media models
12/09: Gamer chat app Discord hits 25M users
12/20: College esports will be bigger than March Madness
12/21: How big is esports compared to other gaming markets?
