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Esports exec: ‘Every day, a baseball fan dies, and two gaming fans are born’

• “Every day, a baseball fan dies, and two gaming fans are born. And there’s truth in that,” Ari Segal, IGC CEO, told Yahoo Finance’s On the Move. “So, I think the greatest expansion is going to just come from the generational kind of aging out of what you would currently think of or characterize as adults, and the birth of young people, who grow up in a world that’s digitally native.”-

Ralston Ramsay August 7, 2019

Professional esports is exploding and Immortals Gaming Club (IGC) has its eye on the next generation of gamers as it expands its revenue streams.

Launched in 2015, IGC reaches more than 35 million gamers and brings them together to play on teams across every major league. It recently bought Infinite Esports, OpTic Gaming parent company, for $100 million — the largest deal in esports history.

“Every day, a baseball fan dies, and two gaming fans are born. And there’s truth in that,” Ari Segal, IGC CEO, told Yahoo Finance’s On the Move. “So, I think the greatest expansion is going to just come from the generational kind of aging out of what you would currently think of or characterize as adults, and the birth of young people, who grow up in a world that’s digitally native.”

The biggest segment right now in terms of esports growth is 13- to 17-year-olds., according to Segal. “We certainly expect that that segment will continue to accelerate and adopting competitive gaming in all forms. And that is new young people are born and mature, that they will become the fastest growing segment pretty soon.”

‘More like traditional sports’

While IGC continues to attract a younger audience, it also is moving toward a direct-to-consumer model. So far, most of the company’s revenue comes from sponsorships and media rights. IGC plans to host more events like the Activision Blizzard’s LA home stand Overwatch League August 24 and 25 at LA Live, where it can sell tickets to consumers.

“Not only do we get the ticket revenue but there’s all the downstream revenue. There’s merchandise and parking and food and beverage and also access to first party data,” Segal explained.   Members of the teams ‘NAVI.GG.BET’ and ‘Ninjas in pyjamas’ compete during the ESL ONE Counter-Strike video game tournament at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, western Germany, on July 5, 2019. (Photo by INA FASSBENDER / AFP) (Photo credit should read INA FASSBENDER/AFP/Getty Images)

Competitive gaming will look “more like traditional sports from a monetization standpoint,” said Segal, adding that IGC’s deal with K-Swiss “represents a little bit of a three dimensional approach to monetization.”

In addition to a sponsorship deal with the athletic shoemaker, IGC has developed a performance shoe for gamers. “This is actually a shoe developed by gamers for gamers and for use in competitive gaming. It’s the first performance shoe in gaming,” he said. “It’ll give the player complete control while they’re playing so that they never need to think about their shoe, or their foot or anything else. They can focus purely on the task at hand [game play].”

Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/esports-exec-every-day-a-baseball-fan-dies-and-two-gaming-fans-are-born-esports-exec-154701208.html

Shanghai sets the standards for building esports arenas

Xing YiChina Daily/Asia News Network Aug 06, 2019

• Shanghai has taken another stride toward building itself into a global esports centre, as it announced standards for the construction and operation of esports venues during the China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference which ended on Monday.
• “The esports sector has been growing quickly in the past few years, but there is a lack of top design. The guidelines can boost industry growth in a healthy manner,” Yu Xiufen, director of the bureau, was quoted as saying by Xinmin Evening News.

Published by the municipal culture and tourism bureau, the standards for esports venues specify the construction requirements in areas such as stage lighting and telecommunication networks and set the service standards for operating such venues.

“The esports sector has been growing quickly in the past few years, but there is a lack of top design. The guidelines can boost industry growth in a healthy manner,” Yu Xiufen, director of the bureau, was quoted as saying by Xinmin Evening News.

The criteria for esports venues have four categories, from A to D.With a construction area of more than 50,000 square meters, class-A venues can host the highest level esports competitions, while class-D venues must have a 500-square meter construction area, and will be used to hold qualification trials.

One of the most important upcoming esports events in the city is The International 2019, an annual tournament for the popular multiplayer online battle arena game Dota 2, which will be held in the Mercedes-Benz Arena, a class-A venue, from Aug 16 to 25.

It will be the first time for China to host one of the most-watched esports events in the world. Its crowdfunded prize pool reached a record of more than $30 million (S$41.5 million) in July and is still growing.

According to Perfect World Zhengqi, a subsidiary of Perfect World Co Ltd and the operator of the game in China, the event’s 26,804 tickets were sold out in just 53 seconds in May.

“We have organised many esports events in Shanghai before, so we know the venues here are excellent and the viewers are very active,” said Xiao Hong, CEO of the company. “Shanghai has the best environment for esports in the country – both in facilities and government policies, and we’d like to co-operate with the government to build mature industrial chains in the future.”

Wang Yong, deputy secretary-general of Shanghai Esports Association, said the development of esports includes not only hosting tournaments, but also esports training, performance and public experience, which requires a number of esports venues of different sizes and functions.

Many shopping malls are interested in building esports venues, and these standards will help them find the right partners, Wang added.

A report published by gaming industry analyst company Gamma Data estimated that esports market revenue in Shanghai reached 14.6 billion yuan (S$2.9 billion) in 2018, accounting for 19 per cent of the national total.

Source: https://www.asiaone.com/digital/shanghai-sets-standards-building-esports-arenas

Attitude toward esports does 180 at X Games

• Gaming has become more mainstream and is currently at the forefront of public discussion due to the $30 million prize pool — one of the largest prize pools ever at an esports event — offered at the Fortnite World Cup Finals last weekend.
• The winner, Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf, took home $3 million as the solos champion.

Emily Rand

Wade was a competitor and silver medalist in BMX Freestyle Big Air in 2014.

Eight teams competed in Call of Duty: Ghosts in the MLG X Games Invitational in Austin, Texas. OpTic Gaming, then made up of Matt “Nadeshot” Haag, Seth “Scump” Abner, James “Clayster” Eubanks and Jordan “ProoFy” Cannon, became official X Games medalists.

The reaction against esports athletes receiving the same medals that the action sports athletes were getting was instant and vocal. At the crux of the issue was the fact that gamers didn’t put their physical bodies on the line in the same way as action sports competitors.

“I can see both sides,” Wade said. “I wasn’t particularly bothered by it, but from one point of view, the X Games are really physical sports in general, and gaming isn’t really physical. It’s very difficult, I’m not taking away from that, but the physical aspect of it, we do stuff with our bodies, we show our talents physically with what we can actually do. Whereas gaming is on the other end of the spectrum. The other side of that coin is that the gaming industry brought in a lot of sponsor revenue to keep all of us alive, so I’m not hating on it. Gotta keep the games flowing.”

A lot has changed since 2014.

“Honestly, the attitude shift I’ve seen is that no one talks about it,” Wade said. “When it first came out it was like, ‘What is this? It’s not even an action sport.’ Now it’s just kind of old news. It’s cool that there’s a spot for those guys. Everyone deserves to excel in what they love.”

Gaming has become more mainstream and is currently at the forefront of public discussion due to the $30 million prize pool — one of the largest prize pools ever at an esports event — offered at the Fortnite World Cup Finals last weekend. The winner, Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf, took home $3 million as the solos champion.

The World Cup even made its way into an X Games Minneapolis news conference this week, when the EXP Apex Legends Invitational was introduced, with skateboarder Jagger Eaton asking if the event was a Fortnite tournament.

“Sports has always been the backbone of what we do,” said Tim Reed, vice president of X Games. “But the focus is on trying to remain relevant to youth culture and what kids are into so that people who show up at the X Games get a sense of what’s important to kids and important to young people in the world. So what we’ve just tried to do from the X Games perspective is make sure that we can bring in those elements that are also relevant.

“This year we’re doing more gaming. They’re getting different medals because last time we made that decision it was, uh,” Reed paused and laughed. “One that wasn’t very well-liked, so we made some adjustments, but we’re excited to bring those in.”

BMX rider Ryan Williams joked, “I’ll see how this X Games goes, and if I don’t do too well I think I’m going to start gaming.”

“I’ll carry you, I’ll carry you,” BMX rider Kyle Baldock replied.

“What’s the rule with that because I’m down to win some money if we’re going to do this,” Eaton said. “I’m down to play Apex. Let me know.”

“When we did it in, I think our first one was 2014, just the reaction was totally different,” Reed said. “There’s more athletes that play games than there was back then. You guys should hop in and try it out.”

“I’m gonna,” skateboarder Nicole Hause said. “Let’s go.”

Hause, a Minneapolis native, turned to video games while recovering from an injury that kept her from skating.

“I’ve been pretty shy about it,” Hause said. “I don’t usually talk about it that much, but at the same time, I don’t really care if anyone knows. It’s not something a lot of people would guess I do in my free time, but I do. A lot.”

Hause enjoys Battle Royale games, including Apex Legends, describing it as a mix of Halo and Call of Duty, but with a Battle Royale component.

“I like the Battle Royale gameplay style a lot,” Hause said. “I like Apex, but everyone wants to play Fortnite, and you need three people to play Apex,” Hause said. “I like both of them a lot, but I play Fortnite the most. In the past I played a lot of Call of Duty. A lot of Call of Duty.”

As for whether esports belong at the X Games, Hause thought it fit since so many X Games athletes play video games casually. In a way, video games have become a low-impact sport that traditional athletes can play in their offseason without serious injury risk.

“I think it’s cool because a lot of the action sports people play video games,” Hause said. “Especially nowadays. Most of the dudes in the park that I know play Fortnite — everybody plays video games now, NFL players — it’s like a sport we do in our off time. When we’re resting or it’s just a rainy day or whatever, you’re not practicing, it’s something everyone does whether they want to admit it or not.”

Dota 2’s The International 2019 Prize Pool Surpasses $30M

• The prize pool for Dota 2‘s The International 2019 tournament has topped $30M USD to date.
• The total is primarily crowdfunded via in-game Battle Pass sales, with 34 days of funding left until the final tally is reached.
• The International 2019’s prize pool has now surpassed the $30M pool of this coming weekend’s Fortnite World Cup.

Andrew Hayward

The prize pool for The International 2019—the de facto Dota 2  world championship—has topped $30M to date, beating the prize pool for the upcoming Fortnite  World Cup finals.

As of this writing, The International’s prize pool sits at $30.2M, which beats the 2018 record of $25.5M. The prize pool can continue to grow for another month, as well, until the end of the actual tournament on August 25.

The International’s prize pool primarily comes via crowdfunding. Dota 2 publisher Valve  contributes the first $1.6M, with the remainder provided by a percentage of sales from the game’s Battle Pass. The purchase lets players unlock in-game content and access The International Compendium, which includes a Fantasy Challenge for the tournament.

Every edition of The International has surpassed the prize pool of the previous year ever since Valve introduced the Battle Pass in 2013. Each tournament has also set a new record for the largest prize pool for any single esports event. Last year’s winner, OG , took home $11.2M of the $25.5M pool.

This year’s prize pool surge is especially interesting in the wake of this coming weekend’s Fortnite World Cup finals, which has a $30M prize pool provided entirely by Epic Games .

With 34 days of crowdfunding left and the $30.2M tally already 29% of last year’s prize pool total at this point (according to the Dota 2 Prize Pool Tracker), the final amount could still be significantly higher. The International 2019 takes place at the Mercedes-Benz  Arena in Shanghai from August 20-25.

Source: https://esportsobserver.com/dota2-ti19-prize-30m/