Top Three Reasons Your Kids Will Play eSports

The growth of eSports, as a cultural movement, continues this summer, with startup Super League Gaming’s partnership with the three largest movie theater chains in the USA. Summer 2015 will feature the world’s most popular game, Minecraft, in over one third of the country, with plans to expand to Canada and China in the fall of this year. More importantly, it marks a key landmark in the convergence of gaming and media; providing further proof that eSports is fast changing how youth consume media and entertainment.

#1 – eSports is the new face of digital entertainment

Today, more and more children are gaming, and are doing it more than just casually. However, the growth of competitive gaming has added a wrinkle to the “kid-friendly” notion of playing games. eSports, with its combination of competition, teamwork (where applicable) and social elements, is pushing gaming from a typically solitary form of entertainment to a shared, interactive experience. The explosion of internet capable devices has connected the gaming universe and brought eSports to its forefront. With a focus on the social aspect, eSports has given way to a generation of youth who are also willing spectators of gaming events.

eSports is attracting more viewers worldwide than most professional sports leagues; giiving rise to a new generation of “digital athletics.” Features like lower barriers to entry (accessible to anyone with device and internet connection) and less focus on immutable physical traits (height, weight, athleticism, etc.) resonates with youth across the globe. As a new genre, eSports isn’t a birthright, nor a cultural artifact. Instead, it is becoming the new face of digital entertainment.

#2 – Online comes alive

The 90’s dot-com boom birthed the debate between online vs “brick and mortar,” which continues to rage on today. And while online communities have existed since the inception of a publicly available Internet, very few have made their way into physical spaces. eSports is changing that, in a hurry. From eSports bars, where patrons gather to socialize and watch matches, to dedicated venues, where fans attend tournaments featuring pro teams, there is an increasing number of offline locations where online communities can meet face-to-face. Super League Gaming’s partnership not only guarantees this number will grow, but that the next generation will consider it the “new normal.”

#3 – Passive entertainment is dead

The integration of game concepts into non game related spaces, a.k.a gamification, has already taken hold. Gamification is also causing a shift in how entertainment is delivered. Younger generations want participatory experiences. Sitting in a dark room with strangers, watching a movie for 2+ hours preceded by 20 minutes of trailers, is fast losing appeal. Children are faced with almost limitless options vying for their attention. Passive experiences aren’t cutting it anymore. Youth want to be engaged. They crave experiences that enrapture and can be shared with their close and wider social networks. eSports provides that “stickiness,” in a nutshell.

Why you should care

The entertainment and media landscapes are evolving. It’s no small coincidence that the three largest movie theater chains are lined up to partner with Super League Gaming. Cinemark, Regal and AMC aren’t just betting that eSports will be big; they’re showing great business sense by aligning with an undeniable cultural trend. After all, if you want to find out what’s cool, ask the kids.

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Alex Fletcher finds and recruits top talent in the eSports world – by working with and nurturing the next generation of rising stars. Visit Entiva Group for more info. When he isn’t glued to a screen, he spends time with his wife, their two dogs, and pretends to learn Polish.

Why eSports is the Biggest Opportunity for Sports Since TV

The rapidly converging worlds of traditional sports and eSports moved a little closer last week; as top Spanish basketball organization, Saski Baskonia, and Atlantis Esports joined forces to form Baskonia-Atlantis. As a pre-eminent powerhouse in the Liga ACB, El Baskonia is a Spanish professional basketball club who is no stranger to success. Baskonia advanced to the Euroleague Final Four in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. The club boasts a proud history, featuring some of the most competitive teams in the world and is perennial candidate for Euroleague. In other words, they got game. This announcement, however, is less about basketball and more about the biggest growth opportunity for sports since TV: eSports.

The sports media conundrum

The advent of television has impacted the traditional sports industry as much or more than any other technical innovation. Modern TV took professional sports from regional-based networks of clubs/leagues to the global behemoth it is today. As a matter of fact, the lucrative business of sport would not exist without TV.

The sale of broadcasting and media rights is now the biggest source of revenue for most sports organizations, generating the funds needed to finance major sporting events, refurbish sports stadia, and contribute to the development of sport at grassroots level. (World Intellectual Property Organization)

The above is largely unknown by most, who consider revenue from tickets, jerseys (apparel), licensing, etc. as responsible for the skyrocketing values of sport properties. However, as media consumption patterns move away from the TV screen, and toward internet connected devices, modern sport organizations must evolve a business model tied, at the neck, to a rapidly aging platform.

To complicate matters, millennials are cutting off live televised content at a disproportionate rate. This leaves the traditional sports industry in a compromising position. TV remains their golden goose, but the ever valuable 18 – 35yr old demographic is drifting further and further away from it. The question sports media must answer is, what are those “eyeballs” fixed upon?

eSports as a platform

Enter eSports, with its massive global appeal among younger audiences, exponential growth rates and lack of brand saturation. Currently, most narrative has focused on how eSports stacks up against the traditional sports world. Or in terms of replicating what works in traditional sports, within the virtual domain of eSports. It has become the classic “Old versus New” dialogue which, unfortunately, obfuscates the biggest growth opportunity found in the merging of these two worlds. The move by Baskonia hints at how eSports can be leveraged as a lucrative platform within the traditional sports world. Here’s why forward thinking sports organizations must learn to embrace eSports counterparts, instead of write them off or consider them competitors:

• Young sports fans are gamers: The gaming generation is here. Embrace it or die. Whether traditional sport realizes it, the next wave of fans (consumers) is immersed in the culture of gaming. Not all are eSports fanatics but the overlap, between playing games yourself and viewing others play, is huge.
• Learn by contributing: Traditional sport brands who take the plunge into eSports, will gain invaluable access to insights on the very millennials they claim to clamor for. Insight that beats all the complex consumer polls, surveys by “experts”, and reports from the best consultancies money can buy. eSports lays bare to what works, and doesn’t, in today’s new media frontier. Today that cost is simply getting involved, as the eSports industry grows, the cost will grow with it.
• Ready-made global reach: The Baskonia-Atlantis partnership demonstrates how a successful team with a strong national brand can catapult its exposure across an entire global community. Thanks to the flatter, less developed eSports domain, Baskonia can accelerate the process of reaching across the entire globe. Quick quiz: Name another platform that can offer the same without significant barriers of entry.

Early movers, win

There is an old adage that says, being first is like showing up to a 10pm party at 3pm. In most things, it rarely pays off to be first. It’s much easier (and less risky) to justify an investment early on, than to be the very first. Accordingly, now is the time to capitalize on the ascendant eSports opportunity. The time isn’t when a shift has become a trend, because by then you’re stuck in the middle of the bell curve. The traditional sports industry would do well to invest in the eSports world as an opportunity to grow their interests. Much like buying stock in a company, once everyone is calling it hot, you’re too late.

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Alex Fletcher finds and recruits top talent in the eSports world – by working with and nurturing the next generation of rising stars. Visit Entiva Group for more info. When he isn’t glued to a screen, he spends time with his wife, their two dogs, and pretends to learn Polish.