The rising demand for video games and increasing awareness of esports contribute to the growth of the esports market. As technology is expanding so the video content, products, virtual reality, and video game competitions are increasing. Video gaming has become a transforming pop culture and redefining the ways that young people consume entertainment.
According to the market research report global esports market is expected to grow from $1.09 billion in 2019 and to $1.11 billion in 2020 at a growth rate of 2.16 per cent. The slow growth in 2020 is mainly due to the economic slowdown across countries owing to the COVID-19 outbreak and the measures to contain it. The market is then expected to grow and reach $2.11 billion in 2023 at CAGR of 23.82 per cent. North America was the largest region in the esports market in 2019. The Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region in the forecast period.
According to Newzoo report, the global esports market sees:
- Global esports revenues will grow to $1.1 billion in 2020, a year-on-year growth of more than 15.7 per cent, up from $950.6 million in 2019.
- In 2020, $822.4 million in revenues—or three-quarters of the total market—will come from media rights and sponsorship.
- Globally, the total esports audience will grow to 495.0 million people in 2020, a year-on-year growth of more than 7 per cent.
- Mobile esports enjoyed a huge spike in the past year, with emerging markets like Southeast Asia, India, and Brazil at the forefront of this growth.
A shift from on-ground esports events to online mode
Globally esports community is adjusting to a new reality brought on by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. On ground gaming tournaments have become big money-spinners in recent past, generating revenue through endorsements, broadcast/streaming, and ticket sales. However, due to the ongoing crisis, the industry will see a bit of a setback. Today facing opponents in an indoor stadium, bustling with fans and monitored by referees is a matter of past. Not only that today esports players are competing against them in an online-only version of esports, where everyone from organisers to teams participate and interact from the comfort of home.
The global esports market is expected to generate $1.05 billion in revenue 2020 now, down from the earlier estimated figure of 1.1 billion, according to a revised April report by Newzoo, an eSports analytics and market research firm.
Because of pandemic everyone is house arrested more and more players are joining the gaming queue and can easily catch up events happening around the world.
All major esports events, including PUBG Mobile World League, Overwatch League, ESL Pro League, have shifted to online-only mode. PC maker Asus’ gaming division, Asus ROG (Republic of Gamers) India is also holding an e-Gaming Tournament called ROG Showdown with Counter Strike: Global Offensive .
Measures taken for online esports events
Unlike an offline event, enforcing fair play can be a big task in online esports tournaments. As players join matches remotely, regulating through physical referees is no longer viable. That is where many tournament organisers are testing various new ways to regulate matches.
Few days back Entity Gaming’s player ETG ASHWATMA’s caught in-game hacking in Free Fire Scrim Wars 2020 tournament after detected by the in-game anti-hack system of Free Fire. In Free Fire line-up he was found guilty of hacking in the Free Fire Scrim Wars 2020 tournament . Reportedly, he was the substitute in the team. Not only him, but ZACK TSG from TSG Army was also accused of cheating in the tournament. Garena Free Fire took strict action against both the team players and banned them for one year. Also, both teams were disqualified from the Free Fire Scrim Wars with all Prize Money taken away from them and awarded to the next best team.
To curb such kind of behaviour in tournaments, organisers of the League of Legends European Championship are also trying out screen recording, voice monitoring and remote control over the gamer’s computer.
Riot Games has even developed a new anti-cheat engine for Valorant, a popular new multi-player game. Using server authority, the gaming company will prevent players from using speed hacks (which allows players to move faster than others) or wallhacks (when players can see opponents through walls). Very soon, it will be able to tackle hacks such as aim locks and trigger bots too. And for sure other game companies are also trying out procedures to curb illegitimacy in tournaments.
Rush of investments and partnerships
Esports companies and brands are investing and partnering in innovative new esports platform for increasing their revenue and expanding their consumer base and also for gaining a competitive edge over their rivals. Here are few instances, in 2019, in Africa, NickX, an esports platform, launched by Viacom provides children with a tournament platform, using Nickelodeon gaming content. Also for instance, in 2019, IKON, a USA-based gaming platform company launched a new platform that allows players to challenge fans and friends in games, such as League of Legends and PUBG. Also for instance, in 2019, Mobile Premier League (MPL), an India-based mobile esports platform company launched its mobile esports platform in Indonesia. In May 2020 Rooter, Paytm and Paytm First Games formed a partnership for content across cricket, fantasy sports, gaming and esports. In April Garena partners with Paytm First Games to host ‘Free Fire’ esports tournament. Also, they aimed to have accelerated growth with esports amid the lockdown, and have partnered with Esports Players League.
In March Berlin-based VERITAS Entertainment announced its gaming centre, dubbed LVL, after raising $10 million in funding. Gaming startup Rally Cry raised $1.2 million in seed funding that includes investments from founders of Blizzard Entertainment, Twitch, and Riot Games. Mobile-centric esports organisation Tribe Gaming closed its seed funding round, raising over $1 million. Boston Celtics player Gordon Hayward was part of the round, alongside WWE pro wrestler Claudio “Cesaro” Castagnoli. They will serve as strategic advisors to the organisation along with others who contributed. Artificial intelligence startup Anybrain received over $1 million investment from Trust Esport. Anybrain.gg is an artificial intelligence and data processing firm that is looking to protect the security and integrity of online gaming and esports. Simplicity Esports received $500,000 investment from Triton Funds.
Raven.GG (formerly Neen), which owns the esports apparel brand Raven, announced that it has secured a $1.4M USD seed investment. The financing round, which was raised with a US-based private equity fund, will be used to further develop the company’s service offering across product design, manufacturing, marketing, and logistic. Even today Global esports organization T1 Entertainment & Sports has announced an investment in esports analytics startup Mobalytics. Financial terms were not disclosed. In addition to building a new training program for VALORANT, Mobalytics provides analytics and tools for League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics, and Legends of Runeterra (all Riot Games titles). The company has previously partnered with various League of Legends esports teams such as Golden Guardians as a data partner.
Where are we?
The Indian market has turned into a big potential opportunity for esports startups thanks to the rise of mobile gaming.With the lockdown, the likes of WinZO, Ewar Games, Gamerji and others have seen around 2X-3X growth in its user base. Paytm First Games’ first esports tournament in April 2020 with Clash Royale saw over 12K registrations and around 70K viewers. In April Paytm First Games launches India’s first free to play Ludo tournaments with over Rs. 1 Lakh prize money daily. In addition to that WinZO has entered into a partnership with Tencent Games India to bring PUBG MOBILE tournaments on the platform. WinZO will be now conducting PUBG MOBILE’s free to enter esports tournaments with prizes over Rs.1 crore per month. Apart from that lot of charity tournaments have been conducted by brands, esports organisation to raise funds for COVID-19 relief and with this many new esports players are coming in recognition new esports teams are also forming.
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