Why eSports is the 21st century way of doing alchemy...

Why eSports is the 21^st century way of doing alchemy…

 

Leander Gottlöber

Oct 28, 2019 – 5 min read

“You are an alchemist; make gold of that.”

Except this Shakespeare quote, which I came across a few months ago by skimming over one of his subsequent tragedies – Timon of Athens –, the word “alchemy” itself and the concept which lies behind it have always been quite unfamiliar to me. To be fair, it did not catch my interest for quite some time until a good friend of mine advised me to watch one of his all-time favourite Netflix-docus, which briefly mentioned the theory of alchemy. The main idea was that according to this ancient belief – some might call it pseudoscience – it would be possible, among other purposes, to turn common metals such as lead or copper into precious metals like silver or gold. This complex but also fascinating approach of altering rather low value components into high value elements caught my attention right away and I started wondering if one could not find a similar approach that could be applied to the 21^st century business world. As a fervent advocate of new technologies and more specifically the gaming sphere I instantly made the connection with today’s upcoming and already booming eSport industry which seemed a coherent and relevant topic in that regard. But what is eSports all about exactly? How did we go from the deeply rooted stereotype of an obese teenager sitting in front of his computer screen, playing video games, to today’s recognition of eSport athletes who are earning millions of dollars in prize pools, making the most of this thriving business that eSports is. In short, how did copper become gold …?

What is eSports?

First of all, we need to briefly define the term so that the part of my readership which is neither a Millennial – thus the minor part I believe – nor familiar with the whole concept, can get a first idea of what is hidden behind the term “eSports”. Let’s therefore have a look at the definition given by the Canadian Web-Content provider Visual Capitalist whose data I will use later on throughout the entire article in order to apply some degree of context to my rather short analysis.

                                        Jeff Desjardins (May 29, 2018), The Business of eSports, in the Visual Capitalist

Why is eSports important for the business world?

I know what you might be thinking right now. You are probably wondering why some teenage computer addicts, sitting in front of their PCs while playing some foolish video games in front of an even more short-sighted crowd – well stupid enough to buy a ticket in order to attend one of those worldwide eSports event, some might think – is that big of a deal.

Am I right ...!?

Well, let me give you some figures so that you will hopefully grasp the actual impact that eSports has on the business world.

eSports is a relatively new trend. Even if the whole industry already started in the early 2000s, with players and teams emerging gradually on a somewhat limited eSports-scene, the substantial steps forward were taken from 2015 onwards. Thus, if we have a look at the total revenues generated by eSports (taking into account media rights, advertising, sponsorship, merchandising and tickets as well as game publisher fees), we notice that we went from a fairly modest start in 2015, generating about $325 million, to some massive figures in 2017, hitting almost the $700 million mark while revealing an 41% increase relative to 2015. Meanwhile, the audience rates are rising at the same fast pace. If it was only a dozen young enthusiasts who attended the events in the early stages, nowadays, we count millions of spectators who swarm into the event halls and even stadiums in order to see their favourite players or teams perform. 

A gold rush meant to last

Despite sceptics and eSports-opponents, such as the German Olympic Sports Association (DSOB), arguing that eSports is not an actual sport and foreseeing the latter’s rather prompt expiry date, the fact that eSports is growing in popularity as well as in generated revenues seems undeniable today.

What the alchemist tried to achieve has certainly been accomplished with the dedication and collaboration of various eSports athletes, private investors as well as some State governments which actively set up funds to assure eSports industry’s expansion.

Thus, the future of eSports is bright. What once began as a non-lucrative hobby of some teenage nerds became, in a blink of an eye, a million-dollar business. 

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What are your thoughts: should eSports be considered as an actual sport?

Is it worth investing in it?

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