eSPORTS

What is esports? Organized video game competitions between professional gamers Two major titles are League of Legends and StarCraft 2

E-sports goes online in the 1990s History of esports Earliest known competition on Oct. 19, 1972 at Stanford University for the game Spacewar E-sports goes online in the 1990s ~10 tournaments in 2000 to ~260 in 2010

Growth of eSports No developer or publisher has ever invested nearly as much into eSports as Riot League Championship Series (LCS) is not profitable for Riot Spent more on swag for attendees than received in ticket sales Platform games (Call of Duty Ghost)

U.S. VIEWING PLATFORMS Currently no actual TV channel that focuses on eSports Closest TV channel is G4 - geared towards young male adult viewers Online streaming: twitch.tv, Major League Gaming, spectator mode, YouTube GomTV, Azubu

Based in South Korea, Global Starcraft League (GSL) attracts more than 50 million viewers globally Starcraft match televised on MBCGame in South Korea

Commentators are a recent development Commentating Commentators are a recent development Commentating improved with technology Announcers are paid well Announcers have lots of control Nick Plott - former player turned announcer Offered insight to gameplay

esports Announcer Clip

NFL NFL LCS

APM Actions per minute Most professional Starcraft 2 players can get up to 200-300 apm

Professional gamer Lifestyle eSports is a lifestyle that often requires sacrifice Many drop out or skip college to become pro gamers Most teams usually live in a single gaming house More of a time commitment than full time job

Darshan Upadhyaya aka ZionSpartan

Professional gamer salary Livestream - problems with adblock Sponsors Boosting/selling accounts Coaching Tournament prizes Games pay professional players

Annual League of Legends Salaries Carlos “Ocelote” Rodriguez reveals he makes nearly $1 million per year as a professional League of Legends player The most popular players can make over 6 figures a year Historically very secretive about money

Annual Starcraft Salaries Top 23 players earn over 100k each (2012) 2nd place earns just shy of 400k 1st place earns 400k (19yrs old) Of the top 23, all but 2 are from S. Korea Best U.S. player is 44th (24yrs old)

Viewers Most popular streamers can get 20,000 - 30,000 viewers at a single time LoL Season 3 LCS Finals sold out the Staples Center 32 million people viewed the LoL World Finals 50 million people viewed the StarCraft 2 Finals Over 100 million people watched the season worldwide Mostly foreign viewers

Tournaments 44 premier event League of Legends tournaments in 2013 Not including major and minor events, show matches, and collegiate tournaments 36 StarCraft 2 tournaments in 2013 Top 16 StarCraft 2: 9 South Korea, 2 Taiwain, 5 China Top 14 LoL: 3 North America, 3 Europe, 2 Southeast Asia, 1 Lithuania, 3 Korea, 2 China, 2 Southeast Asia

Global Competition Korea and China Europe growing United States slowly getting there Professionals moving to Korea to train US Market still the most profitable

All Stars in Shanghai

season 3 LoL NA Tournaments Season 3 Spring Split Spring Playoffs Summer Promotion All-Star 2013 Season 3 Summer Split Regionals 2013 World Championship 2014 Spring Promotion

LoL 3rd World Championship Prize Pool 1st - $1,000,000 2nd - $250,000 3rd-4th - $150,000 5th-8th - $75,000 9th-10th - $45,000 11th-12th - $30,000 13th-14th - $25,000

Starcraft WCS 2013 Global Finals 2nd - $45,000 3rd-4th - $17,500 5th-8th - $7,500 9th-16th - $5,000

Lack of education and “real world” experience After eSports Face many of the same problems professional athletes do after sports careers Lack of education and “real world” experience

Total Market Guide sites: Solomid, LoLKing, LoLNexus Each website is worth millions Youtube Channels: Top5plays, trends Interviews Public appearances

The Differences Rules of video games constantly changing New seasons = new rules Constantly new strategies with older/slower players falling behind as younger ranks rise above them Video game fads are always changing Traditional sports are constant

American trained in Korea Very successful Poor player etiquette Meet a Pro Greg “Idra” Fields 24 years old American trained in Korea Very successful Poor player etiquette

Jing Jun Wu Must be 100% Quit Dignitas Family pressure Meet a Pro Jing Jun Wu Must be 100% Quit Dignitas Family pressure College > Gaming Made $15K in high school