What is esports?
E-sports is a team or individual competition based on video games. In Russia
All esports disciplines are divided intoseveral main classes, distinguished by properties of spaces, models, game task and developed game skills of cybersportsmen: first-person shooters, real-time strategies, sports simulators, car simulators, flight simulators, fighting games, team role-playing games with elements of tactical and strategic games, etc. ...
The prize money to be won can be as high asseveral million US dollars. The Dota 2 The International tournament broke payout records several times: so, in 2017, $ 25 million was drawn, in 2018 - $ 26 million, in 2019 - $ 34 million.In 2020, the championship was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Tournament games are broadcast live inthe Internet, gathering a multimillion audience. For example, according to data from TrackDota.com, the finals of The International 2015 were watched by more than 4.6 million viewers, and in 2020 viewers spent more than 21 million hours on broadcasts of the matches of the first division of the Russian EPIC League tournament.
The history of esports began with the game Doom 2,which had a network game mode via a local area network. Thanks to the popularity of the game Quake, in 1997 the first cybersports league appeared in the United States - the Cyberathlete Professional League.
Esports in Russia
On June 7, 2016, an order from the Ministry of Sports was published to include computer sports in the register of official sports of the Russian Federation.
On April 13, 2017, the Ministry of Justice of Russia wasOrder of the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation dated March 16, 2017 No. 183 “On the recognition and inclusion of sports disciplines, types of sports in the All-Russian Register of Sports and amendments to the All-Russian Register of Sports” was registered.
In accordance with this order, computer sports were transferred to the second section - “sports developed at the all-Russian level.”
This means that it is possible to carry outin Russia, the official national championship, the emergence of categories and titles in computer sports. This section also contains all the “traditional” sports - football, hockey, basketball, etc.
From 5 July 2017, in accordance with the order of the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation No. 618, the Federation of Computer Sports of Russia is an accredited sports federation for the kind of sport “computer sports”.
ESports tournaments
Esports competitions are held throughoutthe world, including international ones. The most significant and analogous to the Olympic Games was the international tournament World Cyber Games (WCG), which was held in various countries from 2000 to 2013.
In addition to WCG, Cyberathlete Professional League and Electronic Sports League are regularly held.
Today the largest and most prestigiouscompetitions are those run by the game manufacturers themselves: for example, The International Dota 2 tournament or the League of Legends World Championship.
- The International 2017 prize money totaled 24.79 million, the European team Team Liquid won 10.86 million.
- The International 2018 has a prize pool of $ 25.53 million, and the European team OG won $ 11.25 million.
- The International 2019 prize money was 34.32 million, the European team OG won 15.62 million
How to make money on eSports?
- Own team
One of the most respected esports tycoons is Alex Garfield: he is the owner of three Dota 2 esports teams at once: Evil Geniuses, The Alliance, Team Tinker.
Champion of The International 2014, Newbee,sponsored by Chu Chi Hao, who is the son of Ja Iin Chu, owner of China's largest real estate developer, Chairman of Evergrande Real Estate Group. He is one of the richest people in China, with an estimated fortune of US $ 7 billion.
- Cyber Arena
The cost of organizing a tournament is influenced by many factors: duration of the tournament, final format, who will commentate, prize fund and discipline.
For example, Dota 2 topped the ranking of the mostof watched eSports tournaments among the Russian-speaking audience in 2020. According to Esports Charts, it is followed by EPIC League Season 2 Division 1 and ESL One Los Angeles 2020. The top 10 most watched competitions also included two CS:GO tournaments and the 2020 World Championship League of Legends tournament.
Anton Stasenko, head of the esports groupof the MY.GAMES games operation department, specifies: if we discard the cost of all the preparatory work for the qualifying games and look only at the final part, then its organization will cost from 20 to 100 million rubles.
- As a player
According to data for the summer of 2020, the richest playerin the world is Johan Sundstein. Johan is the captain of the OG team. He started with Heroes of Newerth, where he was one of the youngest professional players - he achieved his first serious success at the age of 15. Total earnings —$6,909,858.40
Next comes Jesse Vainikka. Vainikka is another support player for the OG team, but during his career he managed to make his mark in several serious Dota 2 teams, including Liquid.
I also started with Heroes of Newerth, and also played TF2.In 2020, he announced his retirement due to fatigue from Dota 2 and a desire to try himself in other areas besides e-sports. Total earnings - $6,470,548.78
In third place is Anatana Pham ana —the youngest athlete in this ranking. For his esports career, he moved from Melbourne to Shanghai to play with stronger Chinese players.
Because of this, he even had to leave school, which greatly upset his mother, but together with his brother he managed to convince her that he was right.
How are funds distributed?
In eSports, 80-90% of prize money comes from tournamentsIt's the players who get it, not the clubs. As a rule, the amount of winnings is divided proportionally between team members, sometimes the captain receives a little more. In addition, a small percentage of the prize money is paid to the coach and analyst.
Each game has its own business model to motivate players, explains Sergei Glamazda, general manager of the Virtus.pro esports club.
In Dota 2, the entire tournament bracket is focused onone big event: teams play all season and collect points to get to The International with a prize pool of over $34 million. The champion gets 45.5% of this amount, that is, each of the five players on the winning team can earn up to $3 million.
In CS: GO, there is a bet on regular tournaments of about the same level - up to $ 1 million in prize money, very rarely - up to $ 2 million. But in this discipline the base salaries of players are also higher. "
Historic leader in total prize money in differentdisciplines - American e-sports club Team Liquid. Since its foundation in 2000, its players have earned $ 35.1 million.In 2019, Forbes counted $ 24 million in revenue for the club and ranked it as the 3rd most valuable esports franchise, valuing it at $ 320 million.
Risks
Non-core investors quite often crash in esports due to high expectations, poor market analytics and strong competition from foreign games.
Differences between the spheres of esports in Russia and inThe West lies not only in the money turnover and the size of the audience, but also in its ability to pay and unwillingness to pay for content on the Internet. The situation is changing, but not as quickly as investors and entrepreneurs would like. Therefore, not all business models that work abroad are effective here.
According to Newzoo forecasts, the esports market inRussia by 2023 may reach $ 100 million, the world - $ 2-3 billion. Experts say that the growth of the Russian segment of the industry for at least five years will be about 20%. This means that now is the time to enter the market and occupy a niche in order to “mature” along with the industry.
However, esports monetization is not alwayspredictable and obvious. Even with a large audience of enthusiasts constantly following their favorite teams and players, turning them into an audience ready to vote for their favorites with a ruble is not easy.
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