BRANDS’ ATTENTION
Gaming could hit $1.5 billion by 2020, writes Steve Menary
property of eGames. This upside-down structure means that eSports is dominated by commercial interests, and that poses problems, says Anna Baumann, an independent lawyer specialising in eSports from Germany.
“You have a vertical structure and a monopoly and it’s sometimes hard to access the market,” said Ms Baumann, speaking at the Play the Game conference on sports governance in Eindhoven on November 29. This structure puts game publishers at the top, above tournament organisers, clubs and then players, with regulators at the bottom.
eSports also has two governing bodies, the IeSF, and the rival World eSports Association.
“The conversation around a single governing body needs to consider what is possible, as much as what is needed,” says Ms Pike. “And realistically, I don’t see a single eSports governing body being a viable solution given the variety of IP/rights holders involved.
“eSports is not one cohesive sport. It is an intricate system of various titles and sub-segments that are extremely different when you go beyond the surface.
“I do think the idea of a single source outside of sport governance can improve the industry’s legitimacy and sponsorship opportunities, though; specifically, a single, reliable source for audience measurement/ratings, which is why Nielsen created our advisory board and is making this a priority for our vertical moving forward,” she says.
Although the IeSF is emulating the governance of other sports in areas such as registering with the World Anti-Doping Authority in 2013, concerns remain. Esic identifies cheating using software hacks as the biggest problem.
Some manufacturers take cheating seriously, with Mr Smith citing Valve’s Anti-Cheat system as a good example. “If you are caught, you will be banned for life. Of course, you can open another account an hour later, but [cheating] is taken seriously.”
Mr Smith told the Play the Game conference that annual betting turnover on eSports is expected to exceed $150m by 2019, which also poses an integrity issue.
eSports is also booming in Asia, but this region is also where illegal markets flourish and match-fixing in other sports such as football is a major problem. There are more than 160 legal gambling websites that offer odds on eSports, but that is the tip of the iceberg, says Mr Smith.
“The illegal market is 10 to 15 times the size of the visible market,” he says. “The epicentre for interest in eSport betting is also the epicentre for illegal gambling.”
The game Starcraft II was hit by a match-fixing scandal in South Korea in 2015. Mr Smith is worried more may follow; Esic started an online education programme in October 2017 to try to tackle the issue by raising awareness.
The IeSF is also trying to promote research into eSports and held a global summit in Busan, South Korea, last month and also works with other sports.
“We are trying to partner with different sports like table tennis, which we are trying to promote,” says Mr Lim. “Fiba [the Federation of International Basketball Associations] wants to promote three-onthree basketball and we are trying to organise an event together.”
Widening the player base and improving governance will all help legitimise eSports and increase interest from sponsors.
The next logical step would be for acceptance by the Olympic movement. But Ivo van Hilvoorde, a lecturer at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands specialising in eSports, is not sure this is possible. “What countries can play? This is important for an Olympic sport so all countries should be able to play but they cannot. Only 20 to 30 per cent can compete,” he said at Play the Game.
That will slowly begin to change as the playing base and commercial expansion continues. By 2020, Newzoo expects global revenue from eSports to reach $1.5 billion as investment by brands, which totalled $517m in 2016, doubles. As gamers scramble for their consoles, brands look likely to be doing the same for eSports sponsorship.
It will dwarf the NFL, it will dwarf the NBA, because first and foremost, it is a global phenomenon TED LEONSIS Owner, Washington Wizards