eSports
As eSports Continues to Grow Apace, its Athletes and Startups are Winning Big
The headquarters of G2 Esports’ Berlin team, on first glance, looks every bit what you’d expect from the home of seven young gamers. Beds are unmade, towels hang on bedroom doors and kitschy posters cover several of its bare, magnolia walls.
But while average student digs might have the odd Playstation, here gaming is life. Each inhabitant is deeply involved in his training, stopping now and then to take notes from the team’s two-man coaching staff.
It might not seem like the vanguard of a billion-dollar industry. But G2’s players are rich young men (every member of the team is male: gaming still suffers a yawning gender gap and has no women in its top hundred earners). Since its 2014 foundation in Madrid the brand has won a host of top-ranking tournaments. It is currently one of the continent’s biggest brands.
As eSports’ following skyrockets alongside its revenue, and teams like G2 chip away at its massive revenue potential, the gamers themselves are professionalizing along the lines of fellow athletes in traditional sports.
Games like League of Legends and Counter Strike are already about to take their bow at traditional sporting events. That, alongside a coming revolution in online broadcasting, is opening up huge chances for eSports firms to win big before competitive gaming truly hits the mainstream.
One of them, also in Berlin, has realized there are many ways to achieve that potential.
Jens Hilgers is something of an eSports celebrity. The 41-year-old German admits he “sucked at playing games” despite loving them. But what Hilgers lacked in playing skill, he has more than made up for in entrepreneurship. This year marks 20 since he began working in the industry. In 2000 Hilgers co-founder the Electronic Sports League (ESL) that today is an integral part of the eSports circuit.
In 2010 Hilgers took a backseat at ESL, moving from CEO to chairman of the board. It was then that he began developing DOJO Madness, a Berlin-based firm harnessing Big Data to help players improve their game.
“I guess because of my lack of significant success or progress in the games, it became clear to me that there was a problem,” he told Red Herring. “Because I found that frustration with myself: when I lost a game, how could I win more?”
DOJO Madness was founded in 2014. To date it has secured over $12m in funding, and offers solutions for professional players and amateurs. This April the company received $6m in Series A cash from investors led by The Raine Group.
BITKRAFT, the world’s first eSports-dedicated investment vehicle, launched a year later. Hilgers is a founding partner. It began with $18.5m to invest in seed-stage eSports companies. Today it has 15 firms in its portfolio: three from Asia, and six each from Europe and North America.
BITKRAFT’s Investments represent a cross-section of the industries that are booming around competitive gaming. Tier One is an advertising and media platform working in Southeast Asia. The Esports Observer is a widely-read eSports-dedicated web portal. Level99, based in London and Berlin, is a creative agency catering to the growing demand for teams to grow their brand and fanbase.
The stats behind eSports are enough to understand each venture. Competitive gaming has an audience of around 320m. The industry is set to grow by a compound rate of 30% until 2020 when, by some estimates, it could be worth $1.5bn.
Betting on eSports has flourished too. According to Nauroscope, an analyst, the lowest estimate for the total amount bet on eSports in 2016 is marked at $5.5bn. That figure will rise to $12.9bn by 2020. Esports betting volume already outpaces that of golf, tennis and rugby.
Twitch, the Amazon-owned streaming service for gamers, has over 1m daily streamers. Ticket merchandising revenues are expected to rise from $53m to $74m this year alone. That is enticing a new generation of web broadcasters keen to use eSports to increase their footprint.
“It’s a development where big, online-first, video streaming portals are fighting for audience,” says Hilgers. “That’s the YouTubes, the Facebooks, the Netflixes. And for them eSports content is appealing as it commands a very attractive audience, as it’s still relatively unexplored.”
Part of the attraction, he adds, is that eSports is a global phenomenon: it is played the same way in Berlin, or New York, as it is in South Korea – which could be considered the “spiritual home” of eSports. Soccer might be considered a truly worldwide sport. But there are few others.
Alongside the surge in revenues, eSports’ best practitioners are starting to live more like traditional athletes. At the G2 house there is a dedicated chef, and two non-playing staff ready to kick their charges into shape. “Definitely there’s a lot more focus on players’ health and wellbeing,” says the team’s 27-year-old manager and head analyst Chris Duff. “Years ago it was generally up to the players.”
Duff holds Scrum sessions each day from 1pm to 4pm. The players start their day at 11am, and finish at 10pm. Most weeks comprise six active days. It’s a grueling schedule. But the rewards are rich. Three years ago a top Counter Strike player may have earned $2-3,000 per month. Today it’s $20-30,000 (the highest salary in soccer is Cristiano Ronaldo’s $4.8m monthly salary from Real Madrid).
“It must be much better now, much easier because you have people to take care of your stuff,” says Joey “Youngbuck” Steltenpool, 26, G2’s coach. Even a couple of years ago when Steltenpool was playing for the Copenhagen Wolves, salaries were late and it took a Herculean effort to persuade staff to buy a new sofa. “Everyone was really on their own,” he says. “It’s way more professional…disciplined.”
The Korean system, he adds, is “about a decade ahead in eSports. Professional gaming has been very normal there for around 10-15 years now because of (the 1998-developed, hugely popular game title) Starcraft: there’s a way bigger pool of people to choose from.”
But G2 is getting there. Players go to the gym and eat healthy diets. Intensive training means some pro gamers have careers as short as five years (that’s still not as short as the average NFL career, which is a staggering 2.66 years). But that is changing.
“I do think it’s interesting that careers are way longer now, because everything is structured and you have coaches, managers, cooks and everything,” says Steltenpool. “So usually years ago it was really easy to drop motivation if you were on your own, and not much was taken care of. And now, since there are so many support staff inside the house, and outside the house in the organizations which are much better structured, players have way longer careers.”
BITKRAFT has been trying to move early in finding companies to cater for eSports’ growing professionalism. Among its stable is H4X (pronounced “Hax”), a line of clothing stressing comfort and the ability to avoid muscle strain. Runtime is a special-made performance drink developed by Dr Lutz Graumann, a sports medicine expert who has worked with fighter pilots, among others.
“In the past two or three years it became very obvious to professional teams and players that their game is really their mental game,” says Hilgers. “And a mental game, in order to perform top mentally, you need to be fit physically. So your physical training regime, your diet, is now something people understand as making a real difference.
“Compared with 20 years ago people are putting far more effort into being a top player in the game,” he adds. “There’s more competition, which elevates the skill ceiling overall in these games. And naturally you see people using every possible avenue to improve their skill.”
The eSports merchandising arena is set to explode alongside the industry at-large. Steve Volpone, CEO of Big Block, recently wrote that “We need to begin collaborating on the lifestyle, fashion and other spinoffs that eSports’ huge audiences will want.”
Big traditional sports brands have begun wanting a slice of the action. Soccer teams like FC Schalke and Paris Saint Germaine have developed their own eSports teams. Others have tried to buy existing success.
Los Angeles-based Cloud9 recently secured a $25m Series A funding round from investors led by the Founders Fund, and including the World Wrestling Entertainment organization (WWE) and Major League Baseball player Hunter Pence.
Last year Team Liquid, another of the industry’s big brands, was bought by a consortium including Steve Case, Tony Robbins and Magic Johnson.
They are trying to jump on a bandwagon that is beginning to get recognized by the biggest organizations in traditional sports. Last weekend it was announced that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is exploring the possibility of including eSports in future Olympic Games. It will be included at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. The IOC are looking to include eSports two years later, at the Paris games.
Hilgers thinks the industry is at a point where those who can win success now, will consolidate power well into the future. “The costs of building top-level eSports teams have increased significantly in the last three years,” he says.
Teams don’t just need a good brand and content strategy to attract big players. They need huge sums of cash. The barrier to entry is soaring. “A few years ago (teams) would make $1-3m revenue perhaps,” he adds. “Now it is substantially more.
“I think that helps a lot in creating a way more stable ecosystem of teams that really matter,” says Hilgers. “The really interesting part is now how many of the teams will be teams who are around now?”
It certainly appears that G2 Esports will be there. This August the team won an undisclosed funding round from a consortium including Everblue Management and Andre Gomes, a midfield player for soccer giant FC Barcelona. This week it beat Danish side Astralis to take third place, and $60,000, at the EPICENTER Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) tournament in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
G2 is now the tenth-ranked League of Legends team worldwide (South Korean giant SK Telecom 1, which won in Saint Petersburg, heads the list: the top ten includes four Korean, and four Chinese, brands). It places second at CS:GO.
Whatever the rankings say, however, the biggest winner is eSports itself. And, as it grows like few other industries on earth, a burgeoning collection of startups are placed to pounce on its imminent tech and merchandising riches.
eSports
We ran CS2 Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024 through a SuperComputer to predict the final stages — with Neymar’s FURIA team set to cause more massive shocks on home soil
- Natus Vincere and Team Vitality are heavy favourites with a 29.7% and 23.5% chance of winning in Rio, respectively
- However, FURIA — the hometown team backed by Brazil star Neymar — have been the tournament’s biggest overachievers in the group stage and are on set to cause an upset
- G2 on the other hand are the biggest underachievers, crashing out in the group stage to hurt their chances of going into the Major season as top seeds
- FURIA were given just an 20.9% chance of making the playoffs on home soil while G2 had been ranked as third favourites to win in Rio before the tournament with a 19.3% chance of glory
Natus Vincere (NaVi) remain the overall favourites to come on top at Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024 according to the CSDB.gg CS2 Tournament SuperComputer but FURIA, the Brazilian team co-owned by Neymar, are on course to threaten a serious upset on their home turf.
They have already stunned the competition by beating NaVi in a group to secure passage directly through to the semi-finals, with G2 Esports the biggest underachievers in the opening rounds.
G2 had been a team rated as the third favourites to seize glory in Rio before the tournament only to fail to even make the playoffs. Team Vitality are still second only to NaVi according to the SuperComputer’s rating of who can win but FURIA are backed to knock them out in the semifinals to go to the decider for a dramatic rematch with NaVi to decide who will end the tournament as champions.
A total of $250,000 in prize money and a spot at IEM Katowice 2025 are at stake for the winning side, and after NaVi’s loss to G2 Esports in the Blast Fall Final they will be gunning for a chance to bounce back in style. Vitality on the other hand will be chasing their first title since IEM Cologne.
FURIA, the hometown heroes, are in the mix to potentially upset the odds and after entering the tournament with only a 20.9% chance of even making the playoffs now find themselves third favourites to win the whole thing after their heroics in the group stage.
Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024 predicted by the CSDB.gg CS2 Tournament SuperComputer
- Final: Natus Vincere (29.7%) to beat FURIA (17.6%)
- Semifinal 1: FURIA (41.0%) to beat Team Vitality (40.7%)
- Semifinal 2: Natus Vincere (48.1%) to beat HEROIC (33.0%)
- Quarterfinal 1: Team Vitality (63.8%) to beat MOUZ (36.2%)
- Quarterfinal 2: Natus Vincere (67.0%) to beat Virtus.pro (33.0%)
Playoffs
- Natus Vincere – 29.7% to become champion; 48.1% to make final; 67.0% to make semi-final
- Team Vitality – 23.5% to become champion; 40.7% to make final; 63.8% to make semi-final
- FURIA – 17.6% to become champion; 41.0% to make final
- HEROIC – 11.3% to become champion; 33.0% to make final
- Virtus Pro – 9.7% to become champion; 18.9% to make final; 33.0% to make semi-final
- MOUZ – 8.2% to become champion; 18.3% to make final; 36.2% to make semi-final
It had been quite the run for NaVi prior to Rio despite their loss to G2 at the Blast Fall Final, with back to back grand finals in recent weeks.
Their momentum was immediately slowed by FURIA who got the home turf buff to shock them with a 2-0 in the Upper-Final to skip straight into the semis.
FURIA’s last appearance in a semi-final in front of a Brazilian crowd came at IEM Rio in 2022 where they lost 2-1 to Cadians Heroic after beating Navi in the quarters. They also lost to Heroic in the quarters of the same tournament in 2023 and will be hoping to get all the way to the final this year.
They are now third favourites to take the event with NaVi and Team Vitality still first and second favourites coming into the playoffs, even after slipping up against FURIA and Heroic, respectively.
Vitality have experience at recovering in this competition. They won IEM Rio 2023 from the quarters and will be looking to go back to back in Rio in 2024.
The MVP race is on too with Vitality’s ‘Zywoo’ currently on a 1.54 rating after five maps. He will be looking to take his career total to 21 tying the all-time record currently held by s1mple.
Another MVP would also be a massive step towards taking a record-breaking fourth HLTV number one award for the best player of the year for 2024.
FURIA could cause an upset here too though with home boy KSCERATO on a 1.56 rating after six maps.
The MVP award will almost always goes to the winning team’s best player and he could pick up his first career MVP on home soil should FURIA continue to confound expectations. Neymar would be proud!
How was the CSDB.gg CS2 Tournament SuperComputer created?
The CSDB.gg CS2 Tournament SuperComputer is a predictive model created using world ranking points, team quality ratings and performance trends. An element of randomness is also included in the model to avoid the best teams and players always winning, to reflect the fact that upsets can happen.
Every tournament is simulated 1,000 times with the results aggregated into a percentage rating of the chances teams or players have to achieve the predicted result.
CSDB.gg CS2 Tournament SuperComputer playoffs forecast in full
Elimination stage:
Asia
Top Gaming Creators join hands with Regional Influencers to Drive Record Engagement into College Rivals Season 2
A diverse array of city-based influencers from across the country, in conjunction with an established roster of creators, has been driving exceptional engagement and transforming the grassroots esports and gaming scene at the College Rivals Season 2.
The Ampverse DMI owned, largest collegiate gaming talent hunt, College Rivals Season 2 has covered 5417 kilometres with its one of a kind cool gaming truck, visiting more than 11 cities. It has surpassed a record-breaking 100,000 plus registrations, engaging with students in both online and offline format, exceeding the total engagement numbers compared to the first edition in just over three months of the tournament.
Ashwin Haryani, Country Head of Ampverse DMI, India, highlighted the broader vision behind this collaboration: “Our partnership is built on the belief that nurturing esports and gaming talent requires more than just competition—it demands inclusivity, mentorship, and localized engagement. By bringing together creators across different tiers and regions, we’re not just amplifying visibility for emerging talent; we’re creating a sustainable pathway for them to transition from amateur to pro. College Rivals is evolving into a platform where every creator, regardless of their background or following, can find opportunities to grow, learn, interact and thrive in the esports and gaming ecosystem.”
Season 2 features prominent and popular creators like Payal Gaming and Ankkita C, two of India’s top female gamers; Snax, known for his informative gaming content with over a million YouTube subscribers; and popular names like Joker ki Haveli and Regaltos. Also, joining the lineup are Antaryami Gaming, AlphaClasher, Brightfox, Willy Gaming, SardarjiYT, Vadhiyaar, and Mazy, making it an exciting season for gaming enthusiasts.
“By collaborating with local influencers and deep diving into diverse audiences to create a more relatable gaming experience. This strategy not only enhances community interaction but also brings unique regional flavours to the game, making it more appealing to players from different backgrounds. It’s a smart move to leverage local voices and personalities, driving excitement and participation in the competition, said India’s top women gamer, Payal Gaming.
As per industry reports, nearly 55 million urban Indians actively engage with nano-influencers. This dynamic blend is revolutionizing the way to connect and energize the gaming community.
The College Rival Season 2 is being staged across 22 Indian cities, including Jaipur, Lucknow, Patna, Assam, Vizag, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Mangalore, Kochi, Goa, and Mumbai being part of it.
Adding to the excitement, the winners from the first two rounds of qualifiers for all three games, Valorant, BGMI and EA FC 24 have also been revealed. They will move on to the next stage, aiming for a spot in the Grand Finale scheduled for February 2025, wherein the winners will win a prize pool of up to INR 50 lakh and the chance to join a top gaming organization to compete professionally.
Asia
Gujarat Titans challenges E-sports Athletes to battle it out in “Battlegrounds Mobile India-Titans Rising” Tournament
Gujarat Titans becomes the first IPL team to step into the world of E-sports with “Battlegrounds Mobile India-Titans Rising”, an electrifying BGMI tournament with a massive ₹22 Lakh prize pool. The tournament guarantees intense matches and nail-biting finishes as top-tier professional teams clash with rising stars who advance through the open qualifier process to lock horns in the Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) tournament.
The tournament starting from October 10th will be sure to provide riveting entertainment for E-sports enthusiasts. E-sports’ inclusion in the Olympics and Asian Games has been a game-changer. This recognition has legitimized E-sports as a globally recognized competitive sport, attracting mainstream media, sponsorships, and investment, ultimately fuelling rapid professionalization and expanding its global fan-base.
The “Battlegrounds Mobile India-Titans Rising”, tournament features multiple elimination phases leading to a Grand Finale. The thrilling competitive journey kicks off with five offline open qualifiers in Phase 1 from the 10th to the 15th of October. These qualifiers are open to all to provide a platform for aspiring BGMI teams to showcase their skills. Moreover, 2,048 teams consisting of over 10,000+ gamers have already registered for the tournament and are buckling up to jump into the battlegrounds.
From these qualifiers, 32 teams will advance to the pre-quarters phase where they will battle alongside 32 invited teams with established and top-ranked players, creating a fiercely competitive pool of 48 teams. Phase 2 intensifies the battle with Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals, and ultimately culminates in a Grand Finale where the top 16 teams fight to become the Ultimate Champion.
Col. Arvinder Singh, COO of Gujarat Titans, remarked, “With the IOC set to hold the Olympic E-sports in 2025 and the Asian Games featuring E-sports as a medal event since 2022, it has gained widespread international recognition. With ‘Titans Rising,’ our goal is to engage fans and broaden our brand presence. This tournament will create opportunities for aspiring players to compete with professionals, while also allowing our fans to tap into their competitive spirit in BGMI. This initiative enables us to connect with our fan base in innovative ways and highlights exceptional talent in the E-sports arena.”
The behemoths of the E-sports world namely Revenant E-sports, Team IQOO SouL, Team Orangutan, Carnival Gaming, and many more will join the fray to win it all. Marquee gamers like Sc0utOp, Omega, Goblin, and many others will be competing against each other in this all-star tournament,
All matches, starting from Pre-Quarters, i.e. from 16th October, will be streamed on the GT YouTube channel, ensuring maximum exposure and excitement for both participants and viewers. Don’t miss a moment of the action! Catch all the excitement live on the Gujarat Titans YouTube channel, featuring expert commentary and in-depth analysis.
Bonus.org on a Mission to Dominate Bonus Comparisons
Maximizing ROI in Casino and Crypto Campaigns: How AI-Driven Advertising with ROIads Outperforms Traditional Methods
EveryMatrix set to complete Fantasma Games acquisition after meeting shareholder threshold
Week 41/2024 slot games releases
Drake Inquiry into Greyhound Racing NSW extended
Galaxsys Expands Its Presence in Africa by Partnering with Betika
Movers and Shakers: Tereza Melicharkova: There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for creating sustained engagement
OKTO Announces Partnership with Octavian Lab
BOS/The Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling commissions Advisense to strengthen efforts against money laundering
Gaming Americas Weekly Roundup – September 9-15
Zillion Games launches Storm Fruits slot
Push Gaming bolsters Danish presence with Danske Licens Spil
Applications invited to become safer gambling charity for 2025 editions of ICE, iGB Affiliate and iGB L!VE
Oddsgate highlights success in data management for robust iGaming operations
iGaming profiles Henrik Persson Ekdahl, Mikael Harstad, and George Westin aim to redefine the gaming landscape with their new Social Casino and Sportsbook Platform
NetBet Extends Its Danish Reach with Multiple Gaming Partnerships
-
Asia6 days agoAFC signs MoU with IBIA to strengthen fight against match-fixing
-
Balkans6 days ago
EEGS 2024 Welcomes Oddin.gg as Silver Sponsor!
-
Conferences in Europe6 days ago
ELA Games Concludes a Successful SBC Summit
-
Asia6 days ago
SuperGaming announces official launch date for Made-in-India-for-the-world battle royale Indus; epic cinematic trailer also unveiled
-
Latest News6 days ago
PG Soft releases Anime-Inspired Oishi Delights
-
Conferences in Europe6 days ago
NEW HORIZONS FOR ZETTAONLINE AFTER SBC SUMMIT
-
Gambling in the USA6 days ago
Gaming Americas Weekly Roundup – September 30-October 6
-
Latest News5 days ago
Genius Sports Launches FANHub, World’s First Advertising & Activation Platform to Reach & Engage Sports Fans
