Ovies: So you want to be an esports star?
Posted April 9, 2020 8:15 a.m. EDT
Updated April 9, 2020 8:20 a.m. EDT
Prize money for esports tournaments has grabbed headlines as of late. In 2019, Fortnite player Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf won Epic's World Cup Solo and took home a cool $3 million. Giersdorph, who is 16-years-old, earned nearly a million dollars more than Tiger Woods did after winning The Masters at Augusta National and roughly the same amount as Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon.
Given the lucrative possibilities, you'd understand why any parent would tell their kids to stop playing outside and get back on their game systems. Imagine the puzzled look on my sons' faces when I told them it was time to wake up and break down Fortnite tape so they could further hone their skills. Hey, they could win big and I can enjoy an early retirement, right?
If only it were that easy.
The competitive esports scene is a growth industry at the moment as various entities try to figure out how young demographics consume content. Professional sports franchises have invested into games like NBA 2K and Overwatch. Game publishers, such as Blizzard and Epic, are striking a balance between running their own leagues and licensing events to third parties. Traditional media outlets like ESPN are competing against streaming platforms like Twitch for eyeballs. And while there is money floating around and big time names backing these events, there are concerns esports is a bubble about to pop.
Regardless, I wouldn't advise anyone against trying to get a piece of the action while esports is hot. However, the ability to cash in has a similar barrier of entry to traditional sports.
The undeniable truth is that humans like watching other humans play games we can commonly participate in at an elite level. There is no logical difference between watching LeBron James dominate a basketball game and Tyler "Ninja" Blevins dominate 99 other avatars in a round of Fortnite. Similarly, it's also incredibly difficult to reach that status in traditional sports and esports.
Consider all the college basketball players on the court throughout the entirety of March Madness, from conference tournaments to the NCAA Tournament, and only 60 names will be called during the NBA Draft. Drill it down even further, only a handful of those players drafted each year have a chance of becoming a household name. Consider the churn and burn of an average NFL roster. To be elite in esports takes the same level of commitment that sets basketball players like Steph Curry apart from other NBA players or Tom Brady apart from all other quarterbacks in the NFL. Time and effort will always matter.
However, there is one skill set in esports that is weighted differently from traditional sports. A compelling personality. Whereas Kawhi Leonard or Mike Trout can rise to the top of their respective sports on pure ability and not give fans much else, to be truly elite in esports requires the player to be interesting beyond their playing.
This is why esports has largely been an individual endeavor and the team concept hasn't really taken off the way some stakeholders would like at this point. The product is consumed in a direct way thanks to streaming platforms such as Twitch and Mixer. Content streamers have more in common with social media influencers, who have followers and can impact gaming trends.
Profiles about Ninja in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times get to the core of the matter, in which gamers simply want to watch him play the games and appear to care little about established teams in organized leagues. Ninja was so popular on streaming platforms like Twitch and YouTube, Electronic Arts paid him to play Apex Legends as a way to drum up hype and downloads. Ninja's influence was recently secured by Microsoft, who signed him to an exclusive streaming deal with Mixer. Less than a week after leaving Twitch, Ninja helped Mixer reach 1 million subscribers.
Somebody just starting out isn't going to ink marketing deals like Ninja right out of the gate, but that doesn't mean making a decent living off esports isn't achievable early on. As an independent player, you'll do just fine playing in as many small to mid-range tournaments. Use those opportunities to build up an audience base for your streaming platform, since that will end up becoming your main source of income. If you move up the ranks, it's possible to latch on with a professional team and sign a contract. However, some pros have found it more lucrative to leave their Overwatch or other team based game groups and go it alone on streaming.
Tyler "Ninja" Blevins or Turner "Tfue" Tenney also didn't need to go through the traditional sports route to get to where they are today. No high school teams. No AAU. No collectively bargained age requirement that leaves players little choice but to go to college. There is no defined pipeline to get to esports at the moment. While some colleges and universities have esports teams, they'll remain on the club level since the NCAA's amateur model and the esports model can't coexist. Schools presidents would gasp in horror if a "student-esports-athlete" when they see a big check change hands.
Ironically, some players simply go to college after they've had a few runs through the esports tournament circuit. Once they arrive on campus, those players have already gained some transferable skills from their playing days.
The current myopic view of esports by those just learning or hearing about the industry fails to see the larger landscape. Delving into esports also immerses kids in coding, art, and video production. Those skills could lead to jobs within the industry or to other fields. There is also an opportunity in esports adjacent areas such as law, nutrition, and physical therapy. When you think about esports, you have to think of everything in the game as well as everything that surrounds the game. Which is no different than traditional sports as an industry.
So do you want to be the next esports star? Go for it. Pick up the controller or find the right keyboard and mouse combination. Develop the skills needed to compete on the high level. You miss 100% of the Boogie Bombs you don't throw.