Current Stare of Esports

When going in depth into esports, I've learned that it can be divided into three main concepts: entertainment competition, and community. These concepts are what make up the majority of esports and how it has carried into becoming such a huge industry. Looking at the current state of Esports today, it continues to arise and grow across the whole world. 

The growth of esports has been measured through viewership growth trends and the amount of revenue brought in from the people who watch. Gamers and esports enthusiast come from a numerous of different countries in every continent like Europe, South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. In the United States, "North America is set to hit $300 million in esports revenue this year, while Europe is expected to reach $138 million, per PwC estimates. The rest of the world only accounts for about 15% of total esports revenue, but it contains several regions to watch," according to Insider Intelligence. (Intelligence, 2022)

And as esports is growing globally, investors, brands, stakeholders, and other industries outside of esports all around the world have become a part of the esports scene through endorsements and sponsorship deals. "Just like traditional professional sports, esports teams have owners, franchises, endorsement deals, cash prizes from tournament winnings, and more—all contributing to their annual revenue and total valuation."

Right now, when it comes to the current state of esports as a whole, the revenue numbers continue to climb past billions, viewership numbers are reaching new heights, and more and more companies are becoming more invested into esports. "Newzoo, one of the most trusted market analysts, recently released a report suggesting that revenue for esports has been on an upward slope for the last couple of years. In 2022, this figure is expected to rise to 557 million, out of which 250 million are considered to be esports enthusiasts."

Impact of Esports

Following up with the current state of the esports industry, over the years esports has had major positive impacts on people everywhere. From the professionals winning millions in an esports arena, down to the casual gamer playing in their room for fun. Esports has opened up opportunities for passionate gamers, content creators, broadcasters, developers, and more to change their lives. 

"Esports has hit this stratosphere in large part because of the social component of live streaming and gaming. Video gaming-specific streaming platforms like Twitch and YouTube Gaming give fans a direct connection to the players and teams, while more mainstream socials have allowed those connections to flourish." Through socialization online and in person events, esports have given players a way to establish friendships and a connection with other players.

As bonds like these spreads across countries, gaming communities are created, gaming organizations are created, content creation groups are created, and then we get an entire population of gamers and more that are all a part of the esports scene which is how it creates an overall positive impact on all of the players. 

Over the past four years, gamers and non-gamers alike have been influenced and positively impacted by professionals and content creators in the esports scene. Esports teams that are at the highest level like TSM, FaZe Clan, and Cloud9 influenced younger players to want to compete at a higher level and earn money as they play their favorite games. 

Content creators in the esports scene generally make videos, live streams, host tournaments, and do more for the gaming community. This gets people involved in competitions, communities, and helps them become more connected with other streamers and players as well. Speaking as content creator and esports enthusiast, I can say this is a major part of how esports can make a huge impact anyone's life. 

Esports has also had a very positive impact on other companies that invest in it. At esports in person events or even online tournaments, games will have their game partnering with a company to promote their product, typically a gaming product. For example, the company SteelSeries partnered with the game Brawlhalla for an event where players could get exclusive items related to their brand. Endorsement deals and partnerships between gamers, esports teams, streamers, and video game companies have made an enormous impact on both parties and resulted in propelling the esports industry in its entirety. 

It's time to get ready for the new era of Rainbow Six Esports.

📅 Join us for more on Monday, December 12.
🕠 5:30 PM CET.

🔗 https://t.co/lTfeBWHlTe pic.twitter.com/gYsc3LLt1X

— Rainbow Six Esports (@R6esports) December 5, 2022

Biggest Takeaways

Before getting further in depth, it's important for people not involved in esports to understand the why people play and reasoning behind esports has grown to such high level.

Firstly, as I previously mentioned, esports is about competition, entertainment, and the community. Looking from the competitive point of view, players get to compete in the game they love and get paid for it! Being a part of an esports team and play in front of thousands of people is thrilling and it's the best feeling in the world when you win, and everyone is cheering for you. 

Secondly, not everyone is able to make it to such a highly competitive level, and so they participate in the entertainment side of esports. Entertainment involves streamers, broadcasters, or any kind of content creator that makes content for viewers entertainment. People that take this route also get paid for making content for viewers, and it has become a major part of esports because it helps games progress forward into maintaining a player base.

Looking from a community standpoint could be many different things. For example, casual players who enjoy the game, casual viewers who watch the games, coaches, designers, artists, and editors are all examples of roles in any gaming community that people take part as. Because there are so many ways to participate in esports, it can be looked at as an open and welcoming environment for people who have never been involved before.

Lastly, one of the biggest takeaways that you can get from esports is socialization. Which is a concept I've mentioned multiple times throughout the entire blog. Socialization is one of the major deep cores of esports because it is absolutely necessary for esports to thrive. With the millions of players, and billions of watchers, esports has been able to grow through people socializing with each other and creating sincere bonds.

Future of Esports

In my very first blog post I included an infographic demonstrating the predicted audience growth of esports in the future. Specific statistics can be found in Esports: Not all Fun and Games blog post. Looking on more than just the esports audience, the new generation of players is continuing to grow and is making up the majority of the gaming market. 



According to the Newzoo report, generation alpha and generation Z "Not only invest more leisure time, but they are more likely to spend money on games and engage with gaming in many diverse ways outside of playing. Gaming has become part of their everyday lives as they also look to games for many other reasons."

Right now, we are in "golden age" of esports because of how it has evolved and expanded over time. According to Intenta Digital, "The global esports audience number will pass 500 million in 2022 and reach 577.2 million by 2024." (The Future of Esports 2022) Esports has also evolved into getting more women involved into esports as well by creating leagues exclusively for women. (The problem with women in Esports 2022)

Another huge way esports may evolve is having it become an Olympic sport. "The 2022 Commonwealth Games in the UK will include esports as a pilot event for the first time. Esports is also making its debut at the 2022 Asian Games in China, featuring games such as DOTA 2, League of Legends and EA Sports FIFA." Also, according to Intenta Digital, "We predict an esports Olympics event in future. The International Olympic Committee has said 2024 is “premature” to include esports, but the door is open for 2028."

To conclude, the main concepts of esports are juggled between entertainment, competition, and the community. Each of these uphold the entirety of the esports industry and it's how everything goes down in the behind the scenes of esports.

Twitch Vs. YouTube

Twitch Vs. YouTube

Twitch and YouTube are both streaming platforms where people watch content creators for entertainment in numerous different kinds of categories. There are a lot of differences and similarities between Twitch and YouTube, mainly being that on Twitch you can watch creators live in real time, whereas on YouTube you watch pre-recorded videos. These are both huge competitors that people like me use every day and because of recent events (Jidion's permanent ban in previous blog post) I've been led to make an overall comparison on Twitch and YouTube. 

Below is chart showing a comparison between Twitch's average viewers and YouTube gaming average viewers in thousands. Because Twitch is mainly for watching games it clearly shows them in a major league above YouTube.

Twitch vs YouTube Gaming Stats

Similarities

To start off, like I previously mentioned, Twitch and YouTube are both platforms that content creators use to create entertainment for their viewers. A few things both the platforms have in common is that you can stream your content live, creators can earn money through advertisements and sponsorships, and they're both used as major ways for consumers to get their information or news. 

Another big thing Twitch and YouTube have in common is that they're both huge avenues for people to socialize and become a part of a larger community. Socialization is always a huge part of esports, and it includes viewers being able to feel a part of a group or community on Twitch and YouTube. 

Looking from a consumer standpoint, Twitch and YouTube can be used interchangeably because maybe they follow someone who uploads on both platforms. This way they can view their content on both platforms, and same goes for other creators they follow. Whether one platform is better to use than another may not be important to everyone as long as they can watch their favorite YouTuber or Streamer. 

Looking from content creator standpoint, most creators use multiple platforms to help themselves grow as much as possible outside of Twitch and YouTube, like Tik Tok and Instagram.  So, creators can see Twitch and YouTube as both platforms where they can post content and have fun while doing it. The differences and biases come into play once conflicts and issues arise.

Differences

There are numerous of differences between Twitch and YouTube, and they've become a lot clearer throughout the past year. The major differences that stand out between the two are: How much creators can earn, the growth algorithm, rules and terms of service, and discoverability. These concepts make up the entirety of both platforms and have huge effects on big creators, small creators, and viewers. 

Money

The amount creators can earn are majorly different on YouTube rather than Twitch. On Twitch, you can earn money multiple ways through things like bits, donations, subscribers, and merchandise which is all gained from people donating them to you. However, you first must become affiliated on Twitch and then even after that there's no guarantee that people will donate bits, money, or even subscribe and in this case, you get nothing except "the basic payout of about $0.25 – $1.50 per 1,000 views."

With YouTube, "YouTube allows ads once a creator has reached a specific threshold. The difference is that YouTube ads tend to pay more. A lot more. YouTube ads pay around $18 per ad view which comes out to be about $3-$5 per 1k video views." 

Discoverability/Growth Algorithm 

Discoverability is about each of the platforms search engines and home pages that allow viewers to see what they may be interested in. Twitch is the more inconvenient platform here being that Twitch mostly recommends the top and most popular streamers. "One of the things that can be a detriment to new streamers on Twitch is the bias towards more popular channels. Unlike YouTube, where a new channel might wind up being suggested, Twitch likes to only recommend those streams with high amounts of viewers. " This makes it really hard for new streamers to gain a respectable following and viewership average. 

Terms of Service

The terms of service have been a big controversial topic in just the past few months on both Twitch and YouTube. Recently, creators on both Twitch and YouTube have been getting banned, suspended, and their channel striked for unexplainable things and it's been a major problem for a lot of creators. There is some similarity between the platforms with the rules like, no nudity, no violence, and no racism.

However, the rules also majorly differ and once again Twitch is the more inconvenient platform. On Twitch, your channel can be banned with no warning and no justifiable reasonable explanation. A perfect example of this is a popular verified streamer named YourRage who got banned indefinitely for his profile picture. The termination of streamers channels for little to no reasoning, and also not being consistent with the bans makes Twitch look horrific and unprofessional.

"YouTube, unlike Twitch, has a three-strike system. There are warnings on YouTube before everything goes dark." However, there have also been issues with YouTube being inconsistent with how they strike channels. A perfect example would be CoryxKenshin's video on how YouTube has been inconsistent and discriminatory in suspending creators. Still, I believe YouTube still has a better platform when it comes to its Terms of Service. 

Which is Better??

As a Twitch Streamer myself it would make sense for me to side with Twitch instead of YouTube. I personally enjoy Twitch's user interface and how you can interact with people in many ways. It's extremely fun to stream and be able to talk to people and experience great moments with them. However, looking at it objectively, YouTube seems to reign over Twitch because of its greater consideration of its creators. 

Overall, it's more of a preference. People who enjoy watching videos and also making them will mostly like prefer YouTube, whereas people who love to engage with their audience and do things with them will prefer Twitch. I'd suggest using both and see what you could invest more of your time into, and which becomes more appealing. 

Esports: Not All Fun and Games

By Jacob Jones

Copper Box Arena, London

Relevance of Esports

What are your most favorite video games you have ever played? Call of Duty, Overwatch, Rocket League, Halo, Fortnite?! No matter what it may be, that game had some kind of value to you because it may have been fun, exciting, realistic, or even scary. Most people only know and only can see the final outcomes of video games and not the underground behind the scenes works that goes on behind them.

To dive into Esports, Esports focuses more on the competitive side of gaming where professional gamers participate in online and in-person tournaments for money. However, there are many other routes you can take in the Esports industry to earn money. It is important to know this because not everyone may be interested in to playing professionally. In the Esports industry there are many different roles that make big differences in how we see the final product of Esports events which is why Esports is not all about fun and games.

What You Can Do

As I just previously mentioned, there are several different roles that play huge parts into what you see in the esports industry. Examples include careers like: Esports Event Manager, Content Creation Coordinator, Digital Content Producer, Public Relations Manager and more. You can find dozens of interesting and fun jobs in esports which can lead to you creating new friendships and being a part of the esports community.

The Esports industry is thriving and growing and becoming more and more relevant in today’s society. The amount of money that gets put into Esports gets people engaged and interested into it. Esports is worth knowing about because it has largely impacted the lives of a lot of young people, and it has influenced people both younger and older to become a part of the Esports industry. Aside from the money and the gaming, Esports events are thrilling, exciting, and socially interactive that make people want to go back more and more.

Statistics

There have been increasingly large amounts of growth over the years in regard to viewership and revenue. “The increasing viewership is what mainly contributed to the revenue growth – and it’s not just because those viewers are generating revenue. Seeing the potential of reaching a large and engaged audience, brands are investing in esports marketing, both directly and indirectly,” according to Werner Geyser. All over the world there are global trends in how esports in growing because of livestreaming the events that occur. Newzoo, another resource that reviews the live streaming market trends and esports market developments, has “recognize the significant role that livestreaming plays in the eSports and gaming worlds.”

“In Newzoo’s 2019 adjusted figures, there were 200.8 million occasional viewers and 197 million eSports enthusiasts, making the total audience 397.8 million. In 2020, because of the pandemic, the viewership and esports enthusiast statistics skyrocketed, leading to “a combined esports audience of 435.9 million.”

Conclusion

To me I have always had a love for video games, and I became interested in esports when I first started playing Fortnite competitively and had hopes of playing Halo competitively. Then I had learned about livestreaming, casting, and other parts of the esports industry I could be a part of and that's what I want to be able to share in future blog posts as well. You can also expect to see what's going on in the esports scene currently like Twitch Con, PAX, and more in future blog posts.

There are many things to unpack and learn as esports is constantly growing, and I believe that whatever goals or even ideas you may have can be reached through this blog. Keep following to keep up with future blog posts and to learn more about the behind scenes of esports.