E-SPORTS Case Study How E-Sports is a booming global industry ? c x c r u x . c o m INTRODUCTION Esports is a booming global industry where skilled video gamers play competitively. Contrary to common perception, Esports is not simply a phenomenon occurring in the basements of unemployed twentysomethings the industry is real, growing globally, and investable. In fact, over 380 million people watch esports worldwide both online and in person. More people watched the 2016 world finals of popular esports game League of Legends (43 million viewers) than the NBA Finals Game 7 that year (31 million viewers). www.cxcrux.com Page 2 WHICH ESPORTS GAMES ARE MOST POPULAR? Though the actual rankings of the most popular esports games change slightly month-to-month, the ten most-watched games on dominant streaming site Twitch remain consistent. As of right now, League of Legends remains the most-watched eSport in the world. It’s also worth noting, for those less familiar with esports, that the most popular games are not traditional sports-related video games such as Madden or FIFA. www.cxcrux.com Page 3 INVOLVED PARTIES PLAYERS Becoming a top Esports player is no simple achievement. To rise through the ranks, players specialize in a specific game, developing their skills through extensive, competitive play. Streaming: Gamers who Livestream themselves as they play video games are referred to as "streamers." This is typically done in casual play. While streaming can be incredibly profitable, many streamers have to decide whether they want to stream for a living or try and play professionally and run the risk of making less money. Playing Professionally: The few who rise to the professional level compete in tournaments all around the world against the best teams. During the journey, they usually build up a fan base for themselves as well as for the teams and organizations they play for. Successful pro gamers can earn six-figure salaries or even millions. www.cxcrux.com Page 4 TEAMS Professional players join teams (in multi-player games) or play solo (in 1v1 games) to compete for cash prizes. Each team specializes and competes in one specific game, such as League of Legends, Dota, or Counter-Strike. The teams that compete at these tournaments have millions of followers on Twitter, millions watching online. ORGANIZATIONS The best Esports teams are recruited to be a part of organizations, have several teams that specialize in their respective video games but operate under the same name (e.g., Cloud9, NRG, TSM, Faze clan, Optic Gaming, or Fnatic). LEAGUES League tournaments are run by companies such as Major League Gaming (MLG) or the Electronic Sports League (ESL). Leagues include North America League of Legends Championships Series, the Call of Duty World League (organized by MLG), or the Pro League for CS: GO (organized by ESL). www.cxcrux.com Page 5 PUBLISHERS In Esports, each game is the intellectual property of the game creator, collectively referred to as “publishers.” These publishers include Riot Games, Valve, Activision, and others. The publisher’s dynamic in the Esports ecosystem can be considered “all-powerful.” Unlike traditional sports, which can be played by whomever and wherever publishers build and develop their games and subsequently own all rights surrounding them. www.cxcrux.com Page 6 ESPORTS AUDIENCE Globally, the total Esports audience will grow to 495.0 million people in 2020. Esports enthusiasts (people who watch more than once a month) make up 222.9 million of this number. Fans are deeply engaged: Fans are already averaging 100 minutes per session spectating. Interestingly, only about half of viewers actually play the video game they are watching. Fans are young digital natives: Research indicates that 65% of fans are between the ages of 18-34, and, while the fan base does skew male, 38% of esports fans are women. under 18 years 18 to 35 years 36 to 49 years 50 years and older www.cxcrux.com Page 7 SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter Already one of the most dominant and widely used social media platforms for direct communication, Twitter holds the lion’s share of engagement and interaction in the eSports and gaming world. Every Twitch streamer, YouTuber, Pro Gamer, Game Developer, Video Game, and eSports organization has a dedicated Twitter account through which they host the majority of their interactions with fans. www.cxcrux.com Page 8 Twitch For the uninitiated, Twitch is one of the largest live-streaming platforms in the world, and without a doubt, the most popular platform for video game-specific live streaming. Twitch also has some of the highest levels of engagement of any major media platform, due to the nature of streamer-chat interactions and subscriber bases. www.cxcrux.com Page 9 YouTube Easily the largest competitor to Twitch in the gaming industry, YouTube has made significant moves in the past few years to better establish itself as a lucrative platform for eSports and live streaming. In 2018, more than 50 billion hours of gaming videos were watched on YouTube, with an average daily viewership count of 200 million people. More people watched gaming content on YouTube in 2020 than ever before, and part of that expansion is thanks to YouTube’s global outreach. About 100 billion hours of content were watched in 2020, twice the number of 2018′s viewed hours. www.cxcrux.com Page 10 Facebook Twitch and YouTube don’t have much competition when it comes to streaming platforms for the gaming community, but Facebook wants to change that with a new dedicated mobile gaming app. Facebook’s gaming app will largely curate and focus on the streaming community, although it will also highlight casual games that people might play online already, Facebook Gaming is growing. Facebook Gaming saw a 210 percent increase in hours watched between December 2018 and December 2019, Streaming content on Facebook saw a six percent increase in the number of streamers, and a 78 percent increase in the average number of viewers per hour streamed in the same time frame. www.cxcrux.com Page 11 DISCORD Discord is a communication platform originally designed for gaming. Previously, getting into a voice call with other gamers was difficult. Growing quickly, Discord raised $150 million in 2018 at a $2.05 billion evaluation. The company has remained private, and in May 2019 announced that it had surpassed 250 million registered users. Fifty-six million people were using the platform every month, sending an average of 25 billion messages. www.cxcrux.com Page 12 CONCLUSION With continual innovation and growth, the possibilities for eSports are endless. There is no doubt that local lockdowns across the world increased the awareness of esports but year on year growth was already happening. Adapting quickly and sustaining growth through turbulent times, whether or not people are at home has been crucial to recent months. Inevitably, at some point, there will be saturation but there are no signs of this occurring in the near future. www.cxcrux.com Page 13 Thanks! Book A free discovery Call NOW! [email protected] +91 88604 89529 / +91 93195 00922 www.cxcrux.com +91 99996 14422 / +91 98718 72004 @cxcruxdigital.