I work in esports (Business Development & Marketing). The fact that I can even say that I have a good career working in an industry built upon competitive video gaming is proof enough esports is a thing.
I wouldn't be arguing whether or not esports is mainstream, or even if it will be. It is... right now. Little over a month ago it was the League of Legends (an esports title) world championship. It was watched by over 60 million people. Yup. I could list all the traditional sports whose viewership this single 'esport' surpasses but I'd run out of time. Oh, and that 60 million wasn't just from people's bedrooms, this was where it all happened:
I sympathise with those who can't get their heads around considering esport a sport or even that people enjoy watching others play video games, I totally get it. But the reality is that it's no different.
Look at it from a business standpoint as well. Esports attracts an incredibly affluent and desirable market for advertisers. They are young, influential, passionate, and global. They also haven't firmly established brand loyalties yet. Despite their attractiveness, they are extremely hard to reach through traditional media. The consumer, especially the younger generations, have never had such control over what advertisements they expose themselves to and so for brands engaging with esports, it can be risky and hard to do right but if they pull it off, it is some seriously valuable (and currently underpriced) attention.
I don't know how many here are from NZ but regardless, you must all know the Sky Tower in Auckland (owned by Skycity - NZE: SKC), and no, I don't own any lol. They recently signed a JV with an NZ esports league/broadcasting company which is seeing what was previously a restaurant in the Sky Tower transform into an esports broadcasting studio. Now, NZ is behind the ball on a lot of things but when our premier skyline attraction is dedicating one of its few floors to an esports studio... I'll let you ponder that.
Also to touch on the post that started it in the weekend thread - NBA has long been involved now and ex-NBA stars like Rick Fox and Shaq own teams themselves. Esports has a lot of problems facing it mainly around the infrastructure not keeping pace with growth but that is improving. Whatever the case, it's definitely unstoppable now.
If anyone has any questions about esports just hit me up here or on Twitter and I'm happy to discuss
