Right now the world of competitive sport has been completely upheaved due to the effects of coronavirus, and the measures that the world is taking in order to combat it. However, there is one competitive arena that has stepped up to fill the gap: esports.
Esports (official ranked gameplay of different multiplayer games) has risen dramatically in their popularity recently thanks to their inherent ability to be played without having to leave the house. Theoretically, you could host an all-star, 50-player tournament right now with no players having to leave their home thanks to the ease of online gaming.
Esports has been on the rise for years, with consistently expanding popularity and player base year on year ever since they first became entered into the public domain. Now, the projected growth of the esports industry (estimated to surpass $1 billion in 2020) is expected to see a drastic rise in its metrics thanks to the new and captive audience paying attention to them during lockdown.
Games like League of Legends, CS:GO and Fortnite are immensely popular with the Esports crowd
Who’s Playing Esports?
Right now, regular sport has come to a total halt due to the lockdown measures. That doesn’t mean that the players are taking too much time off though. Lots of different professional athletes are using this downtime to put some hours into esports, and are finding a brand new audience when doing so.
In the USA, for example, there have been a number of NBA players who have taken to Take-Two Interactive’s NBA 2K 2020 to reach their fans and play the game for an audience pining for pro basketball action in a time when that might seem impossible. Plus, this tournament was broadcast by the Disney owned ESPN – a significant move for a tournament that isn’t usually given a lot of coverage by major networks.
The NBA 2K 2020 tournament was played by the likes of Durant and Trae Young (Durant was recently declared free from coronavirus following the announcement that he had contracted it), and they aren’t the only pro athletes now indulging in esports.
You also have the likes of the 2019 BBC Sports Personality Of The Year, Ben Stokes, playing esports – and finishing last in the F1 Virtual Grand Prix. Then, you have the likes of Fifa’s ‘Stay and Play Cup’, a tournament that will see 20 pro footballers from around Europe coming together online to play Fifa 20. This won’t just be a tournament for its own sake though, with the big-name footballing stars from teams like Real Madrid, Liverpool, Porto, Manchester City and more helping to raise money for communities being heavily affected by COVID-19.
But, these are just some of the stars getting in on the action of esports right now. With this level of attention and newfound opportunity within esports at a time when staying at home is mandatory, what could happen in the future for the internet-based competitive battlegrounds?
What Could This Mean For The Future Of Esports?
Right now, there is going to be one significant portion of the professional sports market crippled by the lack of mainstream broadcast sports: advertisers. It’s no secret that a lot of the pro sports world runs on, and is funded by, advertisers like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nike – the list goes on. So, what does it mean for these advertisers now that their products aren’t receiving the consistent and high profile coverage they usually do?
The answer could be in esports. Now that we are seeing more professional athletes diving into virtual worlds, we could see a dramatic increase in the amount of advertisement that surrounds esports too. For example, we know for a fact that lots of athletes have individual deals with certain sponsors. If these athletes wanted to continue their endorsements, they could theoretically wear the same merchandise, or use the same products during a live esports game and reach a similar audience?
The concept of in game advertising is nothing new, it has been around for a while
In fact, it could be argued that when playing esports, athletes are exposed to an entirely different audience, an audience that might not have been as interested in watching traditional sport as it is in playing video games.
All the while, fans of the athletes themselves will be watching to check in on what their heroes are doing, and different sponsors will be happy that they are still receiving coverage on networks like ESPN if this trend of broadcasting live esports continues.
This might seem like a small facet of the world of sports to focus on, but realistically more sponsorship within the realm of esports means a faster-growing platform and as a result a larger and more seriously taken esports league.
Given that esports were on track to be a billion-dollar industry by 2020, it will be interesting to see if this new, unexpected and unprecedented level of engagement in esports will boost these numbers at all.
A Viable Future For Engagement
So, alongside more investor and advertisement interest, what other ways could we see the world of esports grow during and as a result of this lockdown?
Well, the answer could be a more heavy emphasis from brands in the esports world. What we may not have considered is that some brands will see esports as a way to engage with their current audience, and draw in new ones.
A team could, for example, retain their normal training, operational and game schedule, whilst still making time for one (or all) of its players to sit down and take part in a community or officially ranked esports league. As an additional perk of this esports inclusion, the players could theoretically live stream via Twitch (as so many popular streamers do) and engage with their fans on a direct level.
BBC Sports Personality Of The Year playing Esports, proving theres an audience for professional athletes.
Alongside the engagement with the dedicated fanbase of a player or a team, it’s possible that esports could become a brand new marketing ground for brands to engage in. If we consider that there will be an overlap in esports audiences between those who are interested in the sport, and those interested in the game there could be a shared interest between tournament organizers and teams to share this audience, and expose each to the other.
Then we consider the benefits of cross-promotion between video games and the real-life teams that play them. Whilst right now video games are enjoying an unprecedented level of success despite low investment in marketing efforts, there will inevitably come a time where the world starts up again and there are more hobbies and interests available for all. That’s when having an established foothold in the world of esports could pay off big for the teams and players who put in the time to assert themselves in the video games world.
Say for example Madden releases the newest NFL game in their series. If there were some pro football players who instead of just appearing on the box art could actually play the game to a competitive degree, or had a healthy following within the esports world then they could potentially open up a new level of consumer engagement – beyond that of simply appearing as a poster.
Basically, between the teams themselves and the esports/game developers there is a lot of potential for engagement with a wider audience via gaming, and a larger reach for marketing purposes. Combined with additional sponsor interest we could see more money being funneled into esports as a long term investment – as we all know that professional sports are always looking for the best ways to keep a high-profit margin in line with consumer trends.
The Validity Of Esports
For the longest time, there has been a very vocal section of the esports audience who have wanted to get the online-based sport into more widespread and official national tournaments – like the Olympics. In fact, esports were included during the 2018 Asian games, and that alone attracted a record number of viewers.
So, what, if anything, will this period of increased esports viewership do to the chances of esports receiving a place within international tournaments in the future? Well, it will probably help them. Whilst we might not see esports in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the chances are that in the future there may well be some kind of international tournament with a focus on sports – or maybe even included as part of a larger event.
The fact that advertisers and different teams and athletes are now turning to esports in a time when isolation is key means that we may now see a stronger push from these industry insiders in the future for esports inclusion in future events.
Further to that, there have already been some big names in the world of traditional sport who have invested into esports already – Mark Cuban owner of the Dallas Maverick’s, for example, has already invested n esports, and he isn’t the only one.
Michael Jordan, Steve Young, P Diddy; all big names that have invested in esports one way or another, and will hold sway over what happens next in terms of the scenes integration with traditional sports.
What do you think is going to happen to esports following the lockdown? More celebrity appearances? A bigger push for esports inclusion during big, international events? Let us know in the comments below!