{"id":27378,"date":"2020-01-10T16:49:04","date_gmt":"2020-01-10T14:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/?p=27378"},"modified":"2025-02-19T17:18:07","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T15:18:07","slug":"business-esports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/business-esports\/","title":{"rendered":"The Business of eSports: 3 Things You need to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On\n25th August 2019, eSports history was made. After a hair-raising final,\nfive-person team \u2018OG\u2019 won the Dota 2 World Championship, becoming the only team\nto win the event twice and raking in the biggest first-place prize in gaming\nhistory, a whopping $15,520,181.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier\nthat year, Kyle \u2018Bugha\u2019 Giersdorf received over $3,000,000 after claiming the Fortnite\nWorld Cup, the single largest payout for any individual eSport. That\u2019s more\nthan Tiger Woods earned at the Masters or that Novak Djokovic netted at\nWimbledon.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you\u2019re in any doubt about the explosive growth of eSports, these figures should make you pause. <strong>eSports is a global, billion-dollar industry.<\/strong> With this growth, a raft of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/career-opportunities-sports-management\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"sports careers (opens in a new tab)\">sports careers<\/a> opened. Here are the main points you need to know.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Are eSports?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a nutshell, eSports are any form of professional competitive video gaming. Players compete against each other in teams or one-on-one. Dota 2, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Fortnite  (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fortnite\" target=\"_blank\">Fortnite<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/League_of_Legends\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"League of Legends (opens in a new tab)\">League of Legends<\/a> are among the most popular eSports in terms of player numbers and total prize money.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Similar to many traditional sports, players climb leaderboards and eventually compete in stadium finals, <\/strong>many of which draw tens of thousands of spectators. While players understandably receive the most attention, many people come together to make eSports possible, including event organizers, journalists, hosts, coaches and, of course, the fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. eSports Is Expected to Become a $1.8 Billion Dollar\nIndustry by 2022<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The eSports industry is expected to be worth <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/newzoo.com\/insights\/articles\/newzoo-global-esports-economy-will-top-1-billion-for-the-first-time-in-2019\/\" target=\"_blank\">$1.8 billion dollars<\/a> by the end of 2022. And that\u2019s a conservative estimate. <strong>Revenue in 2019 will be around $1.1 billion dollars, representing growth of nearly 30% compared to the previous year.<\/strong> The bulk of this revenue will come from broadcasting rights, sponsorship, and advertising.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/group-of-person-sitting-indoors-3184306-2-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"esports sponsorship\" class=\"wp-image-27391\" style=\"width:808px;height:538px\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brands\nunrelated to gaming &#8211; often called \u2018non-endemic\u2019 brands &#8211; will likely drive\nsignificant growth in the coming years. As eSports gain recognition with a\nbroader audience, more companies are taking advantage of the advertising and\nsponsorship opportunities available.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. eSports Viewing Figures Are Booming<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In conjunction with revenue growth, viewing figures are also booming at an astonishing rate, with nearly half a billion viewers in 2019. This trend has been driven by a mix of factors, including an expanding band of loyal fans for specific games and tournaments <em>and <\/em>online watching habits that aren\u2019t restrained by traditional broadcasting channels.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Several major networks have already signed big deals for media rights. <\/strong>In 2018, for example, ESPN announced a partnership with Riot Games to broadcast League of Legends. Fox News has also acquired exclusive rights to show all FIFA games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. eSports Gamers Are Among the World\u2019s Premier Athletes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Professional gamers are among the best-paid and most highly trained sportspeople in the world. They require daily access to personal trainers, sports psychologists, nutritionists, and more.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The physical toll of a single gaming session can be equivalent to running a marathon. It\u2019s been reported that <strong>players produce a similar amount of cortisol to racecar drivers<\/strong> and experience a similar heart-rate to that of a long-distance runner.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Are You Considering a Career In the eSports Industry?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As often happens with new industries, confusion and misunderstanding abound when it comes to professional gaming. <strong>You don\u2019t need to be an ultra-devoted League of Legends player or a hardcore Fortnite fan to forge a successful career in eSports.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rapid growth, combined with high earning potential, means opportunities are abundant. Esports Insider reports that the number of job openings <a href=\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2019\/07\/esports-jobs-growth-2019\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">increased by 185%<\/a> in the first half of 2019.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you\u2019re considering a career in eSports, take a look at the BA in Sports Management and the MBA in Sports Management, both of which cover the sports and business aspects of this burgeoning industry in depth.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/en\/Apply-Now\/MBA-Application-Form\/MBA-Application-Form.html?utm_campaign=blog-banner&amp;utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=banner&amp;utm_mode=30\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"750\" height=\"125\" src=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/CTA-Footer-Apply-Now-1.jpg\" alt=\"Study at EU Business School\" class=\"wp-image-26663\" style=\"width:864px;height:143px\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On 25th August 2019, eSports history was made. After a hair-raising final, five-person team \u2018OG\u2019 won the Dota 2 World Championship, becoming the only team to win the event twice and raking in the biggest first-place prize in gaming history, a whopping $15,520,181.&nbsp; Earlier that year, Kyle \u2018Bugha\u2019 Giersdorf received over $3,000,000 after claiming the Fortnite World Cup, the single largest payout for any individual eSport. That\u2019s more than Tiger Woods earned at the Masters or that Novak Djokovic netted at Wimbledon.&nbsp; If you\u2019re in any doubt about the explosive growth of eSports, these figures should make you pause. eSports [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27385,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1771,1770,702],"tags":[976,808],"class_list":["post-27378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-trends","category-career-development","category-academic-programs","tag-esports","tag-sports","post--single"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>The Business of eSports: 3 Things You need to Know | EU Business School<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"eSports is a global, billion-dollar industry. With this growth, a raft of sports careers opened. Here are the main points you need to know.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/business-esports\/\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"EU Business School\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.euruni.edu\\\/blog\\\/business-esports\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"EU Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.euruni.edu\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Careers\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.euruni.edu\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/career-development\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"The Business of eSports: 3 Things You need to Know\"}]}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Business of eSports: 3 Things You need to Know | EU Business School","description":"eSports is a global, billion-dollar industry. With this growth, a raft of sports careers opened. Here are the main points you need to know.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/business-esports\/","author":"EU Business School","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/business-esports\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"EU Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Careers","item":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/category\/career-development\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The Business of eSports: 3 Things You need to Know"}]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27378"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39804,"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27378\/revisions\/39804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}