Marketing Channel esports. How to get the attention of young adults?

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1 Marketing Channel esports How to get the attention of young adults? 1

2 Introduction 2 infographic esports in Numbers 3 What is esports? 6 infographic Demographics of esports 7 What gamer statistics tell about esports 8 The Live Experience of esports 10 How to approach esports fans? 13 Success Story Intel 14 Success Story Kingston HyperX 15 Success Story Coke Zero 16 Who is Who in esports 18 The Many Faces of esports 19 Selected Events 19 Brands in esports This ebook is made for brand managers, marketing specialists and advertising experts who want to know more about esports. As esports has taken major steps from a gaming subculture to become more mainstream, it has evolved into an important marketing channel for consumer brands. In this ebook, we would like to explain what esports is, how big it has become and what a marketing expert or brand manager needs to know in order to run a successful campaign. As it can only give you a brief idea about the competitive gaming scene, it should encourage you to do further research and come up with a strategy on how esports could help your own brand or your customers to reach out young adults. 2

3 infographic esports in Numbers esports events are consumed worldwide via streaming. They are amongst the most popular online broadcastings. Peak Concurrent viewers in stream League of Legends Season 4 World Championship Felix Baumgartner s jump from the edge of space Dota 2 tournament The International 4 WatchESPN Football World Cup USA vs. Germany CBS Super Bowl XLVIII ESL Intel Extreme Masters 2014 Coca Cola Polar Bowl second screen campaign 2012 Stream of the 2012 Olympics 11,7m 8m 2m 1,7m 1,1m 650k 600k 500k Live attendance of selected esports events 2013/2014. League of Legends Finals, World Cup Stadium, Seoul IEM World Championship, Spodek, Katowice ESL One, Commerzbank Arena, Frankfurt am Main The International 4, Key Arena, Seattle Group identification and fandom equal the emotional experience of regular sports events. 3

4 What is esports? Electronic sports (also known as sports or competitive gaming) is a term for organized video game competitions, especially between professionals. The most common video game genres associated with electronic sports are real-time strategy, fighting, first-person shooter, and multiplayer online battle arena. Tournaments such as The International, The Evolution Championship Series, and The Intel Extreme Masters provide both live broadcasts of the competition, and cash prizes to competitors. - Wikipedia esports is Similar to Football To get an even better idea, let s compare esports with football. Football is a game most European men and a lot of women have played themselves at least once in their lifetime. Only a few of them have developed skills in this game suitable to compete on a professional level. Nonetheless, the majority enjoy watching a professional match on TV and the worldwide football frenzy unites the people around the globe at least every four years. esports works exactly the same way: a large number of people, mainly young men, play video games in a competitive environment. Very few are good enough to compete in a professional match watched by millions online. Large-scale international tournaments are held, in which pro-gamers, organized into teams similar to football clubs, duel each other playing games such as League of Legends, Dota2 or StarCraft II. Grand-scale Audience Although a lot of people have never heard of esports, the audience of esports tournaments is huge. Taking place in North America, Europe and Asia, these events draw millions of viewers. Over 27 million viewers tuned in to watch The League of Legends finals in Korea. This makes esports attractive to consumer brands targeting young adults. In the wake of the competitive gaming scene, endemic brands like Intel discovered the marketing potential early. Currently, there are many non-endemic brands from sectors like foods & beverages, financial services and the automotive industry that have signed big marketing deals with esports businesses. Endless Storytelling Football is a game that has not changed much over the last century and it still creates new stories on a daily basis. The same can be said about 4

5 Crowd in a nightclub in Krefeld watching an esports match, Homestory Cup X. esports: While games are succeeded by new titles due to developments and technology, the basic principles of competitive tournaments have remained the same. Therefore, a good marketing strategy can be based on this infinite storytelling. esports events are like football matches highly emotional and observed by communities. This helps brands reach their audience on an intimate level. If done right, a marketing campaign in esports can be more effective in terms of brand awareness compared to classical advertising. A Young Emerging Market esports has grown massively over the last two years and it is here to stay. Amazon invested almost a billion US dollars into Twitch.TV the largest platform for gaming and esports content in 2014, and subsequently got a lot attention from the mainstream media. Competitive gaming will play a major role in future marketing strategies of consumer brands. The scene is still very fragmented and dominated by a few big players in an almost impenetrable jungle of start-ups, game titles, teams and event organizers but with more attention and more money coming in, it will consolidate very quickly. Brands and businesses which start to set their claims in this industry now have the chance to benefit from this atmosphere of pioneering. You Should Act Fast! While a handful of early adopters are already successful in esports marketing, the majority of brand managers, marketing and advertising professionals are still unaware of the potential of the competitive gaming community. As it takes some time to understand the dynamics of this market and the language the target group speaks, consumer brands and agencies need to act fast to develop expertise on their own in this field to avoid approaching this audience the wrong way. Advertising agencies need to extend their knowledge into this area as campaigns in esports work very differently compared to traditional or even social media campaigns. Given the rising importance of esports, the number of professional partners capable of implementing a successful marketing strategy will grow. At the same time, esports businesses will need to extend their networks to new partners in order to sustain the sponsor-driven competitive scene. This offers big opportunities for brands and agencies. Act fast and claim your future in esports! 5

6 infographic Demographics of esports One Gaming Enthusiast influences an average of four people s tech choices among his friends and family. The average Competitive Gamer is years old 85% male student or early in their career active, social, communicative technology-oriented multiplier, innovator, early-adaptor very strong buying influencer the social media generation Gamers who are playing video games are spending less time: 58% playing board games 49% watching TV 47% going to the movies 44% watching movies at home 6

7 What Statistics Reveal About esports There is a vast number of statistics available giving an insight into the demographics of gaming and particularly the demographics of esports audience. But while the general gaming statistics often mix up completely different sectors of the video gaming industry, the specific ones mostly focus on a single gaming title or a certain event. Additionally, the user numbers are evolving at a rapid pace, that it is hard to tell what new records have been set since the last infographic was published. It is very important to understand that, the esports audiences are not gamers in general, but a dedicated segment that needs to be approached with a customized strategy. esports is Still Dominated by Men The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) publishes a consumer research report for the US video games industry every year. One big surprise of the 2014 release was, the fact that the majority of gamers, were adult women. Contrary to often assumed notions, it was not teenage boys but women older than 18 years who made up 37 percent of the gaming population in the US, followed by adult males (36%). While these results refute popular stereotypes, it is important to look into the details to understand what this means for esports. The dominance of women in gaming is explained by the vast amount of casual games available on smartphones and other mobile devices. If you break down this statistic to esports titles, the majority of gamers are male. The numbers published for League of Legends, the most successful competitive game in history so far, point out that less than 10% of the people playing the game are female. The Audience and Active Players Overlap Another aspect of esports rendering general gamer statistics unreliable is the composition of the audience. Millions of people are actually watching competitive matches between progamers online but not necessarily all of them play the game themselves and thus do not appear in the classic gamer survey results. On the other hand, not all active players also watch tournaments online. With regards to availability in esports on a broader scale, there is always a mix between active user data and statistics from the event audience. It is important to focus on a certain event in order to get more precise results. esports is Mainstream in Many Countries An impressive number of 70 million users are active each month in League of Legends. In addition to the followership of other major competitive titles like DotA2, StarCraft 2, CS:GO and Hearthstone, over 1 percent of the world population is engaged in competitive video games each month. Considering that most of them come from industrialized nations of the northern hemisphere in America, Europe and Asia, the cultural impact of esports games can be considered as mainstream in those countries. esports Audience are Adults Competitive gaming has been around in its ever growing scale since the late 1990s when Blizzard s StarCraft hit fertile soil especially on the Korean market where the government had invested early into broadband internet and made online gaming available to everyone. Players and the audience have grown since then with newly released game 7

8 titles and from these pioneering days, a whole economic infrastructure has evolved. Along came a lot of gamers from the early days now in their 30 s, a few of them are still active in the scene as gamers themselves or as entrepreneurs, running successful esports businesses. This moves the main part of the age structure of esports fans to a segment between finishing school and getting a graduation from a university. While not all statistics available about video gamers fit the esports fans 100%, it can be said that the competitive scene is composed of an attractive audience for consumer brands targeting young male adults. In combination with the emotions connected to esports events, the high potential for storytelling in the competitive scene and the highly interactive community, it becomes the premier target group amongst gamers. The Live Experience of esports What is an esports live event? How does it work? How does it look like? How does it feel? This article reaches out to those who have no idea about what esports means and never experienced a live show in competitive gaming. Let s go watch a game! This invitation seems pretty normal in classic sports like football, basketball or rugby. It s something most of us are able to relate to. It s exactly the same in competitive gaming! People gather to watch a computer game. They don t do this in small groups at home but in huge arenas to witness how professionals show off their astonishing skills. Sound familiar? That s why it is called esports! The esports Arena Like in many other sports, esports has a certain setup of an arena. The central element is a stage where the players are seated. Each place includes a gaming PC, a monitor, headphones, input devices and sophisticated seating. It s common that players bring their own preferred peripheral equipment like headphones. In order to eliminate discussions about unfair hardware configurations, the computers are preset. Another important aspect of this design are the big screens, where live edited footage of the game is displayed. Like in sports arena, a live feed from the game is casted, additional information edited in, replays are shown and during breaks presenters discuss recent game moves. The sportscasters are situated in their own booth. They comment the game for the audience, adding much to the excitement of the situation with their encouraging input. 8

9 Stage setup at 2014 EU LCS Summer Playoffs, Gamescom The setup is often completed by an interviewing zone or a special area for the presenters of the game show. Well known hosts introduce the game, interview the players and guide the audience through the experience. The Emotions of an esports Event The whole staging of an esports game is professional in every detail, it is large and perfectly orchestrated show. Starting with a crowd warmer getting the audience in the mood, there is also amazing displays of technology, lightshows and sound. But an esports event does not work without the fanatic audience that is cheering and applauding, waving flags and banners, wearing their favorite fan equipment and rooting for their teams. Whoever has experienced the tension and excitement of a live sports event, i.e. a game of football before, will know how it feels watching an esports game live. The emotions climax whenever a player or team scores. Spectacular situations and the display of superhuman skills make the crowd go crazy and people literally chew their fingernails when their favorites get under pressure. esports is More than Gaming esports adds another dimension to gaming. Similar to classic sports, the audience gives esports its depth. Like in football, it is just one side of the coin to play a match together at the local football pitch but the other side is experiencing a professional game together with family, friends and hundreds or thousands of other fans. Since esports events become bigger and more professional each year, it s no surprise why millions around the globe love to spend their spare time watching pro-gamers go head-to-head in a competitive computer game. The same happens in football or soccer almost every day and it is totally normal to us, so why not in esports? 9

10 How to Approach esports Fans? While the esports-scene gains more and more momentum with huge public events, millions of viewers online and mainstream media attention, it becomes important to understand this market and how brands can benefit from the massive audience. esports depends a lot on sponsoring models. The gamers are an attractive target group for many companies, but the esports media landscape is still hard for outsiders to see through. Advertising agencies could be a bridge between brands and esports, they know the needs of their customers and can serve as navigators through the jungle of international competitive gaming. Becoming a sponsor of an esports event sounds pretty easy: place your brand in the gaming environment and you can reach a young audience. But taking a closer look, it becomes clear that sponsoring in esports are elaborated campaigns making sure there is a mutual understanding. Can you explain what the chances are for a brand to get involved in esports, and what should be considered to avoid a shitstorm? We wanted to know how an advertising agency should approach this gaming scene and asked Joi von Regenstein, one of the founders of Savage, an agency focused on esports marketing, some questions. At the time being, it is simply the sheer mass of casual gamers in Germany which stirs the interest of corporations: approx. 7 million and counting! It s a particularly valuable target group: it s affluent and spend-happy, and compared to other activities in sports marketing, it won t eat up your entire marketing budget to address these leads in a focused, non-scattershot way. Most importantly, you ve got to make sure your offer is relevant to this special target group. If that s the case, you re looking at an interesting range of coverage. Just one more thing that s really vital: street-credibility. If you fail to hit the right tone, you re almost sure to trigger a shitstorm. Just think of those terrible TV spots late at night in which stuffy square brands try to make their products appeal to a young audience in a supposedly hip language! Naturally, those spots backfire against the intended effect! 10

11 With huge viewer numbers and success of competitive games like League of Legends, which are played by roughly 1% of the earth population each month, the number of sponsors engaged in this market seems still quite small and mainly focused on hardware and peripherals. Do you think that esports still lacks credibility in business terms? As a marketplace, Germany hasn t quite discovered the potential of esports for marketing purposes yet. And while more and more corporations and media start to realize this, they still lack acceptance among gamers in Germany. As a first step, they should invest in PR and educational work. In fact, being a specialized agency, we also feel obliged to inform. Ideally through a couple of exciting projects that are yet to come in 2015 e.g. for CGC Europe. Other European countries, especially in Scandinavia, keep surprising us with globally active companies that already invest large sums in esports. And the US are catching up too. It seems absurd that Germany while achieving the highest sales figures in games is ranking only in the mid-range of all esports countries. Can only tech brands be successful in an esports environment? Will companies like Coca Cola be rare exceptions in a market dominated by computer vendors? I don t think so. The key argument for the involvement of companies lies in the various needs of an audience that can be reached via esports. Gamers also lead a life beyond their particular sport, after all. Certainly the gaming scene is still very male dominated but then the latest GamesCom saw significantly more female visitors. Besides, linking up gaming with music and movies is an important aspect which must not be ignored. I m pretty sure that by and by more corporations across many different industries will get on this promising bandwagon. How can a brand use the channel of esports effectively? What matters most is to remain true and honest. To consumers as well as to partners, teams and players. Storytelling is another factor that shouldn t be underestimated. You may remember the launch of the brand Roccat which we had the pleasure to put on stage. We have deliberately tried to create a cult brand knowing that credibility is the keyword. It is not without reason that this brand currently sells the most peripherals in Germany via Media Markt and Saturn. Analyzing the landscape of esports sponsoring, who are the major players? How do brands and esports businesses connect? In fact, companies which are directly connected with gaming and esports are still dominant at the moment, but more and more companies and media take action there are many bridging points between the diverse industries. The way in which you link one company to another is very important, however. What can the role of agencies like Savage be in this economy? How could they change this market and maybe even boost it? Without any false modesty, we consider ourselves early movers in this segment. You ll still find relatively few one-stop agencies in Germany which are specialized in gaming and able to offer everything from strategic planning to an adequate tone of voice or the initiation of cups and events through the media. Full service is our motto, and it certainly helps when there are two elder-sister agencies which support us with online creation or website and app technologies in a straightforward manner. In case we need e.g. highly specialized know-how in terms of PR or media, we are sufficiently cross-linked to arrange that too. Another important area for which we re 11

12 currently arranging a service offer is the issue of corporate recruiting. And we firmly believe that an agency like Savage can help publishers as well as leagues to grow, or to concentrate on their brand by e.g. outsourcing certain tasks. Regarding the fact that pro-gamers look almost like athletes in classic sports with their logo-clad shirts and the emotional impact of a big esports event in an arena, parallels to regular sports are obvious. Specialized sports marketing agencies use their deep connections to athletes to create tailor-made campaigns for leveraging the sponsoring brand. How important is it to be well connected in the esports scene? Do you have a roster of pro-gamers you work with or do you approach them individually, depending on your client? It s extremely important to stay in direct contact to gamers and the decision makers of the clans. No matter if it s national or international. Both the relevance and the range of the respective game often govern the success of an investment, e.g. in a team. However, a certain individuality is also important because the focus may vary between companies. While some specialize on national markets, others may focus on the international ones. That depends completely on the respective marketing objectives and in part on the corporate structure. If you check the websites of the big players in the advertising industry, you don t find a lot of information on their involvement in esports. Do you think agencies miss an opportunity? For the moment, that s certainly true. It is immensely important to position yourself properly and to become visible as a relevant player in esports. But often companies don t really know what exactly they want to communicate. It is not enough to e.g. point out on your website that you will be present at the next Dreamhack to come. It s quite an effort and pretty time-consuming to critically examine this subject matter. Companies need to find a suitable personnel first with a specific expertise. Or at least an agency able to support them. How important can an agency be in conveying their clients to esports organizations? Or do leagues and publishers manage those connections all by themselves? It can be very important indeed. Savage relies on a truly comprehensive network and a specialist know-how that enables us to offer potential sponsors a service package that exactly meets their needs with regard to esports. Our employees are in charge of the entire bandwidth of marketing activities. However, certain publishers are also active in this field. 12

13 Success Story Intel Intel has a long standing history as a sponsor in esports. Supporting numerous events and tournament series, it has become one of the most acknowledged brands in the world of competitive gaming. With the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM), the company is funding the major league of ESL the world s oldest esports league. Judging by the long lasting history of funding gaming events, the engagement in esports seems crucial to Intel. We try an analysis of its success. Partnering with a League By choosing ESL as a partner, Intel decided against working with a games publisher directly. While popular game titles are constantly changing, the Intel Extreme Masters Series is resilient to this volatile market by incorporating many different games into their official line-up. For example, Counter-Strike and Warcraft III were represented in the beginning of the series in Now the titles League of Legends and StarCraft II dominate the latest installment of IEM. This strategy helped to make IEM a lasting brand in the world of esports. International Awareness As certain game titles can differ in popularity between regions, the IEM follows a globalized approach by engaging gamers around the globe. This is a benefit to an internationally operating brand like Intel. The events can be individually tailored to the market they are targeting. At the same time, the different regional tournaments add up to a global experience that cumulates in the World Championship at the end of each series. This generates an effect similar to that of major international sports events like the FIFA World Championships. Targeting the Influencers Of course the proximity of Intel s products to PC gaming is obvious, but the idea behind sponsoring esports events goes way beyond. It is considered a fact that gamers and especially esports enthusiasts are influencing their households and social environments regarding buying choices of computer technology. With this in mind, Intel reaches a target audience of very influential tech savvy individuals at the esports events, which in turn affects the buying behavior of a much larger group of customers. The success of Intel Extreme Masters is a great example of how brand awareness can be leveraged by a lasting engagement with esports and how reaching out to competitive gamers can influence a much wider range of potential buyers. 13

14 Success Story Kingston HyperX Manufacturing hardware for creative professionals, gamers and pc enthusiasts, it s a no-brainer for Kingston to invest into esports to leverage their brand HyperX. It s not so much a matter of if but a matter of how. Gamers are very critical of the hardware. Approaching them in a wrong way can actually harm a brand much more than it would benefit from esports sponsoring. HyperX is a good example of how to do it right. Therefore, we took a closer look at their sponsoring strategy. Create Engaging Content The list of teams sponsored by HyperX reads like the who-is-who of esports. However, their strategy is not only about making team members wear their brand logo on their collars. HyperX goes beyond by engaging the esports community with high quality content. With a mix of gaming information, insights into the professional gaming scene and funny videos featuring well known professionals, they reach an impressive audience. Really Know Your Audience HyperX content is not just random facts and generic fun. They know a lot about their audience. They know the lingo gamers talk, the inside jokes they like, and in general, what s really going on inside the teams they sponsor. By using this knowledge, their content is authentic to the audience and does not feel odd. It is more than just knowing some demographic facts about your target group, it s about living the same life. Get Successful Teams Involved The gamers are the celebrities of the esports world. By involving gamers of successful teams into their content and generating content about them, HyperX goes way beyond using celebrity testimonials for their products. This strategy generates proximity to the audience and therefore gets the brand much closer to the potential customer than generic logo sponsoring could ever do. Being sensitive about the target audience, generating authentic content and speaking the language of gamers, HyperX manages to be successful on a sponsoring territory that while offering a lot of potential - has lots of pitfalls for those not careful enough. 14

15 Success Story Coke Zero Probably the most influencing sponsoring deal in esports history so far was the announcement of the League of Legends Challenger Series in Coca Cola in cooperation with Riot Games started this new tournament series to anchor their brand, Coke Zero, in the esports community. We dig into the idea and story of this unique sponsoring concept. The Story is Important The story behind The Coca Cola Company s engagement is simple: the launch of the League of Legends Challenger Series to give amateurs a path to the pros. In a press release, Matt Wolf, head of global gaming at Coca Cola, places more emphasis on this: Now s the perfect time to get involved with the passionate League of Legends community, and to help support and grow esports. With this baseline, Coke Zero is positioned not only as a sponsor but as a strong supporter of the esports idea. This creates credibility and authenticity needed to engage the target audience. Sustainable Content Enabling amateurs to fulfill their dream by becoming professionals is a story that fascinates people in all sports. By establishing a new tournament series for amateurs, Coca Cola sets the foundation for sustainable content creation. In weekly competitions between January and April 2014, 16 teams competed against each other with two teams becoming pro as the outcome. The games were broadcasted and generated hundreds of thousands of views each week. This generated a lasting brand experience deeply rooted into the world of esports. Following on, a second installment of this series was kicked off in May. Cooperation is the Key While structures in classic sports are already well cemented, the fast-growing and highly innovative competitive gaming scene offers a myriad of opportunities for sponsors to get their brands recognized within esports. By partnering with League of Legends publisher, Riot Games, Coca Cola was able to set up a highly customized strategy tailored to what gets the target audience engaged. At the same time, it helps to cooperate with a partner that already has credibility in this well connected gaming culture. The League of Legends Challenger Series is a good example of how to establish an easily recognizable story in esports to leverage a brand. It shows the flexibility and possibilities that can be found in this quickly developing market for companies targeting the very distinct demographics of competitive gaming. 15

16 Who is Who in esports The esports scene is a naturally grown ecosystem deeply rooted in gaming. Beginning with small, privately organized tournaments and LAN parties, it has evolved into international event series and leagues operated by professional organizers. It is important to understand the basic structure of this market if you wish to find the right partners to work with. Publishers The first tier of the esports economy are the game publishers. They develop and market their game titles. While the Wall Street Journal claims that the Blizzard s StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty cost $100 million in development, it has been shown that the actual estimated production costs of a popular competitive game can easily reach 8-digit-figures. An evenly high amount is invested into marketing of a title and that s where esports comes in. Making a successful competitive gaming title that is featured in internationally recognized esports events, is an important pillar in the marketing strategy of a publisher. That s the reason why companies like Riot Games (League of Legends) or Valve (DotA2) invest in the competitive gaming scene and organize tournaments with impressively high prize pools for pro-gamers. For example, the winners of the recent international championship in DotA2 (short for Defense of the Ancients 2) were rewarded with almost $11 million in prize money. At the same time, the huge awareness those competitions get from the gaming community open up new revenue streams for the publisher. It is not disclosed how much money was involved in the deals between Riot Games and Coca Cola or American Express, but as League of Legends is the most played and watched game in the world, they were certainly substantial. Independent Organizations The second tier is made up from the godfathers of competitive gaming, the independent organizations. They were amongst the first who ran gaming tournaments, sometimes derived from private events for a close circle of friends. They have evolved into huge event businesses running tournament series all around the globe. Good examples are ESL based in Germany, MLG (Major League Gaming) from the USA or the legendary Korean e-sports Association KeSPA. Each of these organizations follow a different approach to esports but a common factor is that they run gaming leagues comparable to leagues in football like the English Premiere League or the German Bundesliga. Teams have to qualify for those leagues and worldwide tournaments are held in order to find a champion during a particular game. Besides the organization of gaming leagues and events, aforementioned businesses have developed their own media empires. While mainstream media like major broadcasting channels widely neglect esports, the scene has created its own 16

17 esports channels reaching millions of viewers every day. ESL.TV or MGL.TV are just the biggest examples of these media powerhouses. In addition is their enormous reach on social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook. This attracts sponsors and media partners and makes them important players in the esports economy seldom rivaled by the publishers themselves. Teams The heart and soul of esports are the teams. Like football teams, they hire professional players, they train and manage them and handle customer relations with publishers, leagues and sponsors. Most teams have been clans in former times, roughly organized groups of friends and like-minded gamers who played together, developed common strategies and worked together on tournaments. Some of the biggest teams like SK-gaming meanwhile have become enterprises themselves, paying for dozens of players, running own training-facilities and living quarters called gaming houses and earning a lot of money from sponsors and prize pools. They are managed almost like sports clubs and their roster is as international as the one of Bayern München. Teams are attractive to sponsors, because the players are the celebrities of the esports scene and work as testimonials that are very close to the fan base. Looking at the jersey of a pro-gamer, one might not be able to recognize much difference to the overalls covered with logos of Formula-1-drivers. Teams also often run their own media channels and distribute messages from sponsors via their own networks. When the players of a professional team are not competing in a tournament, they often stream their training sessions and thousands of gamers watch to learn new tricks. That, also, generates a wide media reach that becomes one of the most valuable assets of each team. Agencies and Service Providers Grown from many different roots, a number of service providers have formed in esports using their inside knowledge about the scene and their experience in event production to convey customers to the right organization, personalities to the right partner or to manage a whole event. Most of these businesses are basically media agencies specialized in esports. They have acquired knowledge in strategic consulting, marketing, advertising or production and offer their services now to interested customers. Often their networks are based on connections they have made during times when their key personnel have been active gamers themselves. Examples include production services and media agencies specialized in esports. Some of them also run their own media outlets; streaming channels and gaming-related news websites add up to their media reach. Those outlets were often born out of a need for relevant channels that have not been available a few years ago. 17

18 The Many Faces of esports The versatility of esports can be best demonstrated by simply observing the number of completely different events that a competitive gaming enthusiast can visit. While many big tournaments already take place in stadiums to host for thousands of viewers, other formats inspire creativity and display the diversity in esports. A nightclub is not the first venue that comes to your mind if you talk about video gaming. Maybe most people still think in stereotypes of dark, lonely basement rooms with dim lighting and socially challenged teenagers. What happened in Krefeld in November 2014 will prove them wrong. One of the internationally most recognized competitive gaming tournaments, the Homestory Cup, took place in the Königsburg. From Thursday to Sunday, this nightclub in Krefeld catered to over gamers, eager to watch their idols compete in StarCraft II, a real-time strategy game. About 13 million people from all over the world watched the live-broadcasting of this event via Twitch.TV. StarCraft is about a future war in a distant galaxy where, besides humans, two alien races fight each other for dominance. It is challenging for the players, because clever thinking has to be combined with quick reaction skills and good timing. Some describe the game as chess on steroids. The highly anticipated finals took place on Sunday and over viewers simultaneously watched online as the player PartinG slaughtered the Space Marines of his opponent, Flash. Both are from Korea, a nation that has dominated esports for decades. Besides the opportunity to watch the pro s compete in the tournament, the event offered a lot more entertainment. You could, for example, wage your own wars in Counter-Strike, play a virtual soccer match with FIFA or race small cars on a Carrera track. Several catering areas and bars offered grilled sausages, pizza or waffles, and last but not least, the most typical thing you would expect in a nightclub: alcoholic beverages. The atmosphere created by the audience by cheering for their idols who are on the stage changed quickly from high tension into outbursts of excitement. The experience was comparable to sporting events such as football or basketball. As it got late, the gaming event slowly transformed into a typical Saturday night party. The gates opened to non-gamers and the remaining esports-fans mixed with the club-goers. While you could overhear some of the newly arriving guests expressing their astonishment about the video game theme present in the club, the majority of young people found together quickly. There is no difference between gamers and cool kids anymore. Gaming has become an integral part of youth culture and nothing could prove this better than an esports tournament in a club - even when uncounted numbers of virtual marines had to give their lives to make a point. 18

19 Selected Events (Different Games, 2014, by prize pool) Brands in esports (Selected sponsors) The International 2014 DotA2 Anaheim, USA $10,930,698 World Championship 2014 League of Legends Seoul, South Korea $2,130,000 Call of Duty Championship 2014 Call of Duty: Ghosts Los Angeles, USA $1,000,000 Wargaming World of Tanks World of Tanks Warsaw, Poland $300,000 BlizzCon 2014 (Hearthstone) Hearthstone Anaheim, USA $250,000 BlizzCon 2014 (WoW) World of Warcraft Anaheim, USA $250,000 DreamHack Winter 2014 (CS:GO) Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Jönköping, Sweden $250,000 WCS 2014 Global Finals Starcraft II Anaheim, USA $250,000 Alienware AMD American Express ASRock Asus AXE Azubu BenQ Bison Group Cellucor Cisco Systems Coke Zero Cooler Master Corsair Creative Crucial Epson Gigabyte Hauppauge Hitbox IIyama Intel Kaspersky Kingston HyperX Korean Air Logitech Monster MSI Nvidia Philips Pringles Razer Redbull Roccat Samsung Sapphire Sennheiser Steelseries Symantec T-Mobile Toshiba Western Digital XMG 19

20 The Competitive Gaming Conference CLAIM YOUR FUTURE IN ESPORTS NOW! /cgceurope /cgceurope