The volatile and voracious UK eSports scene
UK eSports is one of the most exciting emerging sectors I’ve had the pleasure of covering as a tech journalist - but it’s also one of the weirdest.
Globally, competitive gaming has exploded in recent years. It’s no secret how huge and lucrative this industry has become.
36 million people viewed the 2015 League of Legends World Championship finals online, the Dota 2 International tournament had an $18m prize pool; pro players (and even lesser-skilled streamers) can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. Forbes has written a lengthy article looking at how 2016 will be another year of growth for eSports, and I’m sure it will be.
But look beyond the the mega tournaments and superstar players from the US, Korea and Europe (as a whole), and you will find many smaller territories struggling to establish themselves as serious contenders in this exciting space - the UK being a perfect example.
The UK is an affluent area with a strong sporting heritage (okay so our national football team might falter on the big stage, but there’s no doubting its individual talent and the success of our many athletes, from Andy Murray to Jessica Ennis-Hill and Lewis Hamilton).
In comparison, eSports is still a relatively new type of sport. It’s clearly still finding its feet in the UK - player poaching is a problem, League of Legends team rosters are unstable and change frequently, prize pools often aren’t large enough, and this means the potential world-class UK players aren’t easily able to pursue their passion as a full-time career.
The League of Legends ESL UK Premiership final awarded £2,500 to the winner - Team Infused - in December 2015. With five players on the team, that’s £500 each for a few months’ play, without taking management fees into consideration, not to mention the other teams that didn’t hit the top spot. Compare this to the global tournaments with multi-million pound prize pools.
Korea produces some of the world’s best eSports pros. They have their own eSports governing body, training institutions and gaming houses to help support emerging talent, and their mentality is serious, professional and utterly focused on not only winning, but playing to the best of their ability and pleasing their fans.
The US and Europe are trying to learn from Korea, with top teams in those regions bringing on board some of the best Korean players into their rosters.
We have our own share of talent in the UK. Players like British 16-year-old League of Legends top-laner Captain Alphari and jungler Maxlore have impressed in 2015, while UK Xbox SMITE team Aware Gaming have progressed to the World Championships in early 2016. There are also talented Street Fighter players such as ProblemX to name but a few.
The voraciousness and enthusiasm of the players is undeniable. They practice for hours and several have dropped out of university to chase their dreams. Individual talent is strong, but without the right teams or platforms to nurture this talent, it can go wasted.
In the UK, roster instability means keeping a strong team together for longer than a few months is incredibly rare. Players fall out with each other, with management, teams collapse and new ones are created. Funding is a problem, even down to organisations struggling to pay for player accommodation at large LAN tournaments like Multiplay Insomnia.
Some talented players get recognised and are brought into bigger EU or American teams, with KaSing being one good example of a UK League of Legends player who started off in the UK scene and went on to bigger and better things.
There are more tournaments emerging, too. As well as the aforementioned i-series and ESL tournaments, Gfinity opened its own eSports arena and DreamHack held its first LAN in London in 2015.
Going forwards, some in the UK industry are calling for player contracts to be enforced, others want more funding and others believe an independent UK eSports industry trade body would push things forward.
It’s telling that two of the UK’s most successful eSports organisations - Fnatic and Team Dignitas - don’t bother with many UK-based tournaments, instead focusing on the bigger, global competitions.
For me personally, the strength of the local eSports fanbase is something that doesn’t get explored or mentioned enough - and this could be key to UK eSports’ success. Do enough people care about the UK scene? Do gaming fans really want to support UK teams and watch the best local talent play each week?
Many people who are truly passionate about UK eSports are already playing the games, or are coaching, managing or casting themselves. At the ESL UK Premiership finals in December, there were a handful of fans in the seats. Okay, the League of Legends World Championship quarter finals in Wembley’s SSE Arena sold out, but fans attended in their thousands to spectate a globally renowned tournament - would they do the same to see Team Infused face FM-eSports in the next UK League of Legends final? I’m not so sure.
Dominic Sacco is editor of eSports News UK and UK tech trade publication PCR
