Game on: booming business of ‘e-sports’ sweeps SA

IF someone talks about a million-rand purse for a sport event, we tend to think of South Africa’s big four sporting codes: football, boxing, cricket and rugby.

Now another code can join the top table.

Last weekend, R1-million in prize money was awarded to the winners in a tournament dedicated to e-sports or, as our grandparents knew it, computer games. Gaming is all grown up.

According to gaming intelligence company SuperData, the estimated market size for esports this year will reach $892million (about R12.7-billion), passing the billion-dollar mark next year.

Sponsorship and advertising make up more than two-thirds of this amount, and prize pools reached $78-million this year.

That number is up 46% on last year, but it’s not the only figure that will startle the market.

The worldwide audience for esports — regularly watching it at the contest venues, or via live streaming online — will reach 214 million this year and is expected to grow to 303 million by 2019. That makes it the fastestgrowing sport in the world by revenue as well as audience.

One competition alone, in a game called Defense of the Ancients 2, this year offered a prize pool of $20.77-million, the largest yet for one tournament.

At last weekend’s rAge Expo, dedicated to gaming hardware and software, Telkom sponsored R1-million in prizes for competitors in a three-day contest to find local champions in Defense of the Ancients 2 and Counter Strike: Global Offensive.

International shoutcasters — the e-sports term for a live commentator — added to the sense of professionalism coming to local e-sports.

The two biggest international players in gaming hardware, manufacturers MSI and ASUS, are highly active in the South African e-sports game. Both had a strong presence at rAge, along with gaming peripheral makers and distributors such as Micron, Evetech and Syntech.

Each of these is involved in team and event sponsorships as well as prize money, which now totals more than R2-million a year in South Africa. Last year Micron put up R500 000, while distributor Syntech provided R60 000 in sponsorship.

“We’ve seen exponential growth in e-sports,” says Sean Tyndale-Biscoe, regional Micron sales director. “It’s been a global phenomenon and, while the South African market may be smaller, the timing of its takeoff and growth has been the same the past three years.”

Travis Wilson, sales manager of Syntech, concurs: “During the past three years, e-sports has grown 200% to 300% in South Africa. In the next three, global is set to grow by more than 40%, but the South African market will grow even faster. You’ll still see triple-digit growth.”

Local game developers hope to get in on the act: 11 locally made games were on display, with a creation called BAD (Battle Arena Drones), leading the way in e-sports potential.

“We’re creating a narrative for players, shout-casters and spectators,” says BAD developer Travis Bulford, a game designer who produced South Africa’s first commercially successful computer game, Toxic Bunny, 20 years ago. “We’ve built in a spectator mode, so they can watch the game; analyse the action from all angles.”

This fundamental shift from the game being only about the players to being for the audience is the foundation of the big business that e-sports is about to become in this country.

Goldstuck is the founder of World Wide Worx and editor-inchief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @art2gee