Sport’s sleeping giant: international college esports teams are now acquring high-school talent
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – Thousands of people watch in the stadium and online, in their homes, the players play for millions of dollars.
This is the world of Esports, the players in this sport sit in front of computer monitors playing the world’s most popular video games.
For those who think Esports is not a sport, they may want to reconsider, because the industry is growing and becoming one of the most lucrative segments of the entertainment industry.
The legitimacy of Esports has recently been touted by Universities, with the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) becoming the first university in Australia to offer an Esports-scholarship program.
QUT’s program seeks to engage high school students, which demonstrate growth in the industry.
Nicholas Lynch is a Coordinator and works in High School engagement for QUTesports.
“In 2017 QUTesports started as a student club… I started as a volunteer
“We’re not classed as a club at all anymore…but now QUT has brought us into the sports portfolio so we are treated like any other sport,” said Nicholas.
Esports is now part of QUT’s Elite-Athlete program, a program which enacts guidelines on a student’s course structure, results and training regimen.
“(The) Elite athlete program exists for 200 students on campus …195 of those are traditional sporting athletes they compete at a State and National levels in a list of approved sports by QUT and now League of Legends (LoL) is one those and we have 5 League of Legends scholarships,” said Nicholas.
LoL is the only game with scholarships available.
“To obtain one of those scholarships you have to go through a trialling process and meet some certain criteria to join our League of Legends Oceania Challenger Series (OCS) team,” said Nicholas.
This scholarship process includes applying, shortlisting and being trialled against certain criteria, narrowing down 20 people down to best five.
Scholarship perks include early registration, exam deferrals, gym access and sports resources (sports psychologists and nutritionists).
Esports team members are given the same requirements to keep their scholarship, they have to keep a predetermined GPA level, study full-time and participate in their sport in order to receive their $10,000 scholarship.
QUTesports, currently based in X-Block in the University’s Gardens point campus, was the first scholarship program of its kind in Australia
(Image: Lawrence Jeffcoat).
But QUT was not the first University to accept Esports, with website GameDesigning estimating as of 2019 at least 20 US Colleges have Esports programs.
QUT’s structured approach to Esports, which mirrors a traditional sporting model akin to US college sports, presents Esports as a field which wants to be taken legitimately.
The industry numbers back up this legitimacy.
A report by Goldman Sachs found in 2018 the monthly Esports audience size was 167 million people globally.
Most viewers watch online via Amazon-owned streaming service ‘Twitch’.
Twitch enables people to watch people (known as streamers) live, these streamers’ audiences can pay a subscription fee to support their channel and even donate directly to them any amount through payment-services like PayPal.
Often professional Esports teams have their own Twitch channel, along with individual members, which can generate revenue.
A PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) reports estimated the Australian-games-industry to be worth $3.2 billion, with sponsorships being the largest contributor to Esports revenue streams.
Historically the three largest games in Esports have been Multiplayer-Online-Battle-Arena (MOBA) games LoL and First-Person Shooter (FPS) Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO).
But what does this mean?
MOBA’s consist of two opposing teams in a map (environment in-game) where the ultimate goal of the game is to destroy a structure within the enemy team’s base.
MOBA Esports tournaments contain some of the most lucrative prize-pools, such as the Dota 2 2017 international prize-pool which was $23 million.
Competitive FPS games like CS: GO puts two teams in a map, the teams are in situations akin to a terrorism event where one team must plant a bomb and one must defend bomb sites in the map.
In FPS games teams win by planting a bomb and defending it or eliminating all opponents on the enemy team.
“While there are many competitive games that exist and there are essentially unlimited games that could be potentially Esports, but the industry only really recognises those that have a scene that develops to and supports its players.
“It can go from one player versus one player, essentially the biggest one at the moment is Overwatch which is six players versus six players… the most popular genre right now is the MOBA genre,” said Nicholas.
At QUTesports they are not only engaging the student who wants to be a competitive gamer, but those who want to work in the industry.
“There’s two sides to it as well, there is the elite athlete side and then there’s the industry side, so essentially in the Esports industry there are more people engaged with the work behind the scenes than actually play the game competitively.
“So we hope to create a pathway where you can come to QUTesports and get the experience required to work in the wider industry in parallel to your degree, so you can learn how to run events, learn how to manage a business in the Esports industry, learn how to market your event, learn how to get sponsorship deals,” said Nicholas.
Nicholas said the University sees a lot of value in the industry side of what QUTesports does.
Both sides of QUTesports are marketed to High School students.
Through QUTesports’ High School engagement, High School students can see a job in the Esports industry as something which is attainable.
“QUTesports has brought students over, so we have seen students change universities, a couple of first-year students have been influenced by QUTesports in the decision of which university they choose,” said Nicholas.
These forms of engagement for High School students use a smaller scale version of Esports tournaments.
“We host mini-tournaments where students will come and experience the competitive side of things and have the opportunity to see the back-end, more of the industry side and just ask questions,” said Nicholas.
Nicholas also said there is a future opportunity for High School tournaments run in person or online in conjunction with experience days to create a collaborative environment.
QUT’s engagement in High Schools may one-day target people like 11-year-old Connor McKenzie.
There was a time where Connor’s dream job was to be a YouTuber or Gaming-streamer, and he says it is pretty common among people his age.
When talking about games you can see Connor light up as he begins to talk passionately about his hobby.
“I pretty much play games every day, I just enjoy playing games and like the experience,” said Connor.
Connor said he takes interest in Esports with most of his friends mainly watching FPS games.
But is there an actual interest from a younger audience to become involved in Esports?
Connor said he would be very interested in QUTesports and there should be more programs like it.
Connor also said most people his age think Esports is a sport and most people at his school consider themselves gamers.
Although, not everyone is as positive as Nicholas and Connor when it comes to Esports and competitive gaming.
Criticism of Esports has been around since the first big million-dollar events, which gained international media attention, these criticisms faced the ire of online communities.
QUTesports even faced criticism, in an article written by the Brisbane Times’ Jocelyn Garcia, Australian Catholic University Senior Research fellow Kevin O’Donnelly called the program a waste of effort, resources and money.
Mr O’Donnelly said there should be an increasing emphasis on Math and Science with gaming not providing a benefit to society.
“We see it as a development opportunity for students on campus, and not as a hobby as a majority of the older generation in Australia and Worldwide see it,” said Nicholas.
Nicholas also said QUT has taken the side of Esports is not a waste of time and this opinion mirrors the opinion of young people.
“How some people look at it … and some older generations that don’t get that type of stuff (Esports), some parents don’t even know what Esports is or what Twitch is,” Said Connor.
Connor said kids at school and himself have their own favourite streamer, just like sports stars.
“Some people mistake it for you have to be running for it to be a sport … I don’t think that’s the case.
“The same too (with) sport it is competitive, it’s competitive, and like some sports, you win money and there’s teamwork,” said Connor.
In terms of educating people unaware of Esports, Nicholas has an idea of how to reach out to non-Esports audiences.
“I see it as an education piece, telling by showing and making people realise there is a thriving industry where there are definite pathways to employment and success,” said Nicholas.
Showing the history of Esports benefiting people to those who may doubt Esports’ legitimacy may also help said Nicholas.
The future of Esports is looking bright, with the industry expected to grow and Nicholas does not think this rapid growth will be surprising.
“I think it already has grown at a rate faster than anyone expected, I don’t think what happens in the next five years will be unexpected,” said Nicholas.
COMMENT PIECE
ESPORTS’ MIRROR IMAGE OF TRADITIONAL SPORTS IS EXCITING AND SHOULD BE EMBRACED
I grew up playing video games, some of my best childhood memories are playing games with friends.
Growing up I was like any other kid I had the dream of becoming a sports-star when I grew up, playing games professionally was not a viable option.
Now the kids of today are more connected to the world than I ever was over a decade ago and competitive gaming is a dream within their sights, so why not embrace it?
As Universities embrace Esports programs and young children flock to streaming services like Twitch to watch their favourite streamers instead of Friday night sports and television, the writing is on the wall.
Fame for Kids is more new-media than ever with names such as ‘Ninja’, ‘Shroud’, ‘Dr Disrespect’, ‘Tfue’ and ‘Summit1g’ being gaming and streaming royalty.
Now while these names may sound like nicknames or just randomly mashing one’s keyboard to create a ‘gamer tag’ (the name which a person displays in a game) the numbers behind these people are nothing to joke about.
Richard Tyler Blevins (also known as ‘Ninja’) is the largest streamer on Twitch and you may have seen him when the game ‘Fortnite’ became the world’s biggest game, and because of the game’s success, the long-time streamer also became a hit.
Fortnite released in 2017, becoming a juggernaut in the popular Battle Royale genre, where 100 players drop into a map and the last person or team standing wins.
According to social media tracker Socialblade, Ninja has 14 million followers and over 446 million channel views, Ninja’s success has made him a household name and an aspirational figure for kids around the world.
A Goldman Sachs report stated 79 per cent of Twitch viewers are under 35-years-old, with Business of Apps stating 81.5 per cent of the Twitch audience is male.
Twitch’s market penetration has found its way into households, readily available on desktop, mobile and smart TVs.
11-year-old gamer Connor McKenzie is part of this core demographic and watches Esports events.
“I feel like that’s how you can gain more popularity and band the community together…
“I would say that looking at Overwatch, for example, it was on the verge of falling down, and then when they announced the Overwatch League, that sort of gave them more popularity,” said Connor in relation to how Esports helps a game’s longevity.
The viability to work as a gamer on other platforms such as YouTube has become more lucrative in the last decade.
YouTube and Twitch streamers often interact with both platforms, creating a multiplatform business model across social media, generating ad revenue, merchandise revenue and direct donations.
Often the largest channels are or have previously been a part of an Esports team, garnering audiences through their high-level skills.
So why should you care about it? Why should you accept it as a sport? Should the media be willing to accept this?
Gaming is so powerful in the modern entertainment market a shareholder letter from Netflix earlier this year said “We earn consumer screen time, both mobile and television, away from a broad set of competitors. We compete (and lose to) Fortnite more than HBO. When YouTube went down globally for a few minutes in October, our viewing and signings spiked for that time”.
This statement is amazing when you break it down, HBO has the license for Game of Thrones, the largest television show and franchise in the world, and yet Fortnite, a video game is more competitive.
Although, the statement is wrong.
The big competitor is not Fortnite, it is gaming, and Esports is a major arm of gaming’s growing success.
New releases cause fragmentation, creating niches, due to the business-related benefits of designing a game suitable for Esports, these niches make multiple new Esports.
These games are constantly being released, and popularity often matches these new releases and new Esports leagues are developed to cater to new audiences.
This constant growth combined with a young growing audience presents promising investments to legacy media, who have to some extent neglected emerging Esports as a business opportunity.
Currently, Esports teams and players are utilising traditional sport-business-practice to increase their brand profile and profitability to the gaming market.
Despite differences Esports still requires long hours of training and has viewership which rivals traditional-sporting events, which makes it a sport.
If the media wants to gain more viewers in a young demographic, which will soon become the main base of viewership, they should follow ESPN’s footsteps in broadcasting Esports events.
Legacy media can offer teams and players new revenues, while taking their own slice of the pie, this presents a possible Blockbuster-Netflix story which if taken seriously could help save ageing media entities.