Not a big poster but saw some esport/ESH talk and thought I'd chip in.
Asia is where it all began and nations like South Korea look up to their esport stars in a way not dissimilar to Kiwi's looking up to the likes of the All Blacks. But it is by no means isolated to that region. It is definitely growing its presence in our own region as well with the AFL recently showing a committed interest and Australia hosting its first large scale international esport tournament in Sydney at the Qudos Bank Arena a couple of months ago which was a HUGE success. That tournament was called IEM Sydney and there is strong speculation that Australia may now be a regular stop in the global esport circuit.
The AFL isn't the first traditional sporting establishment to show interest. If we move to the States, there have been a number of NBA teams buying up esport teams as well as ex-NBA stars like Shaq and Rick Fox becoming team owners themselves. Also in the States, Turner Studios launched E-League - a televised esport league with $1m+ prize pools. Esport tournaments have been selling out stadiums such as the prestigious Madison Square Garden and that's just the live audience - the audience watching online makes esport often exceed traditional sports viewership. The audience esports attracts is also inconceivably valuable to advertisers - they are valuable demographic that is extremely hard to reach through traditional forms of media as they are very selective about what they allow themselves to be exposed to. They use @dblockers, they don't watch TV and they don't listen to the radio.
For the past 3 years, the number of tertiary institutes offering esport scholarships, programs and recognising it as a varsity sport has more than doubled year on year. Interest is pouring in from all industries and we are seeing more and more sponsors non-endemic to the gaming industry enter the scene such as Audi, Samsung, and Adidas. 2017 is the year esports has/will become a billion dollar industry.
TLDR: It's only a matter of time before esports becomes mainstream.
As for ESH... I would just be wary that they are one of many companies in the Esports scene and just because they are the one ASX listed company in a 'hot' sector does not mean they will succeed. On the contrary, I have high doubts about ESH and their approach. Esports is a very unique industry and once you understand it, you may, as I did, have alarm bells going off (in a bad way) when you hear of a company in the industry being listed. I think ESH may see some success in the coming months as people become aware of what esport has/will become and see ESH as a means of getting in on it but I can assure you ESH is just the beginning.
Quick disclosure: I'm involved in a couple of estart-upsartups launching late this year that have no conflicts of interest with ESH and I personally have no direct or indirect connection or interest in ESH. Just a knowledgable esport guy sharing some information that I hope will help people!
