Whether you know split-push from your powerspike or not, it’s hard to ignore the growing popularity and influence of eSports.
With hundreds of millions of people playing and watching around the world, brand partnerships with the likes of Gucci, BMW and Coca Cola, and a showcase at the Commonwealth Games, 2022 looks set to be another successful year for competitive gaming.
So what do traditional sports’ boisterous younger siblings plan to maintain this upward trajectory in 2023?
For those who are still a little unsure, eSports is a series of different video games in which professionals from all over the world compete. The events, which are often held in stadiums, are televised and attract large audiences. The eSports market is estimated to grow to $1.9 billion (£1.4 billion) by 2025.
Dominic Sacco, founder of Esports News UK, says that before continuing to grow and grow its audience, the industry must first come to terms with some fundamental changes to the organization going forward.
“In early 2022, a Saudi Arabian government-backed group bought two of the largest eSports tournament operators in the world, ESL and FaceIt,” he explains. “I think we’re going to see that happen even more, and it’s going to be a big trend in 2023 and probably beyond.”
This agreement cost $1.5 billion (£1.2 billion) and is only the beginning. Saudi Arabia’s government-backed Savvy Gaming Group has said it wants to invest $38bn (£31bn) to turn the country into a global esports hub by 2030.
Sacco explains that the deal has divided the esports community, with some welcoming the investment as a way to accelerate growth, but adds: “There are some LGBTQ talents who are afraid to fly to events in Saudi Arabia, and many others in the community have also said they feel uncomfortable. and the Rocket League team declined to participate in last summer’s event.”
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has been blamed in “washing sport’ – investing big money in a popular sport, such as buying Newcastle Football Club or creating a new LIV golf tour. Some say this is done to divert attention from human rights.
Sacco says some in the eSports community feel like something like this is happening to them, taking some of the energy and enthusiasm out of the scene.
If this trend continues, as expected, players, presenters, commentators and event organizers may spend more of their time in 2023 having serious ethical conversations about which events to attend. If the internal struggle caused creation of LIV golf, can be understood she is sure to dominate the conversation for a long time.
Cultural fit
For Naz Aletaha, Global Head of eSports League of Legends (LoL), the key to growth in 2023 and beyond is to not forget about your core fan base while reaching out to new audiences. On the other hand, the grass is not always greener.
Instead, she says, it’s about creating content that “hyper-serves” the existing community while giving others a reason to care about the sport.
“The main thing for us will always be the existing audience,” Aleta explains. “Of course, in order to grow, we also want to lower the barriers to entry, we want to make the sport as interesting and accessible as possible. So I would say our secondary target audience is people who play or are aware of LoL, but may not be heavily involved in the eSports side.”
In 2023, LoL enters its 13th season and is considered one of the big three esports along with DOTA 2 and Counter Strike. At the 2022 World Cup, players were competing for a share of the £1.8m prize pool.
The number and size of this potential audience is significant. Aletaha says that there were “over 600,000,000 people who have played and continue to play LoL” – plenty of potential people to keep pushing the views.
Everything Aleta and her team do is to make their sport as attractive as possible to these people because they already know the game, they know the rules and they know the universe.
Their main vehicle for turning crowds into more dedicated eSports fans is the annual World Championship, which Aletaha describes as their “North Star”.
Worlds, League of Legends’ equivalent of the Super Bowl, features Lil Nas X in 2022, and the LoL boss says it’s the stories created by such big events that will continue to attract more casual followers.
The unlikely goal in 2023, she said, is to make the annual event as big as something like the FIFA World Cup, talked about not just because of the promotion, but “because it’s just cultural actual moments”. .
“I think that’s the next step for us to really represent the players for who they are and what they believe,” Aleta says.
“Why should this audience care about some of our best players like Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-Hyuk and Kim ‘Agile’ Hyuk-kyu? And all these players are all over the world. There are so many reasons why they should be interested in them, so we focus on the storytelling, the narrative construction and those crescendo moments.”
Sacco agrees that standards events are vital to the growth of esports in 2023, not just for LoL, but for many other games in the industry.
He argues that hosting major esports events in the UK is the best way to gain cultural and mainstream recognition, and while that is on the cards, he is concerned that other venues are now better.
“Business development group London and Partners, backed by the Greater London Authority, say they want to make London the eSports capital of Europe, but at the moment we’re lagging behind places like Copenhagen and Paris,” he notes.
“In France, President Macron talks about the need to do more in this space, but when it comes to big events, we’re a bit lacking, so I’d like our politicians to understand eSports better and the opportunities it creates.”
Aletaha is confident that eSports will continue to grow no matter what 2023 brings, as she states that: “The real change will be when we see the generational growth.
“The idea that people like sports because they know the rules from childhood and so when they turn it on, they don’t need a textbook – they can just enjoy the storylines.
“As the current generation of fans get their kids involved in the sport, we will undoubtedly see the sport’s appeal continue to grow.”
In 2023, there will be other crossover events, and in the summer, the traditional sports leader of the Olympic Games will host an eSports test event. Four days of hybrid physical and simulated sports competition in Singapore.
However, Sacco is not happy with this development. He argues that the International Olympic Committee has misunderstood what makes eSports so popular and should instead focus on games that already have a thriving competitive scene, as the 2022 Commonwealth Games did.
He doesn’t think the eSports community will be significantly involved in the Olympics until they are involved in these titles.
Looking at the demographics of eSports fans and the IOC’s desire to get young people interested in the Olympics, he states: “To quote eSports commentator Paul Chaloner, the Olympics need eSports more than eSports need the Olympics.”
Whether he’s right or not, 2023 will be another busy and challenging year for competitive gaming.
