The world of eSports experienced unprecedented growth in 2023, further solidifying its position as a mainstream form of entertainment and competition. Over the course of the past 12 months we’ve seen some of the biggest events and juiciest cash prizes in the medium’s history, as well as record levels of financial investment.
However, the year was not without its growing pains, and it’s become evident that significant changes need to be implemented in order for the medium to remain profitable and sustain its current growth.
In this feature, we will delve into the key developments that fueled the growth of eSports in 2023 and discuss the potential trends that could shape its trajectory in 2024. Read on to find out more…
Soaring to new heights:
The most notable aspect of eSports in 2023 was its surging popularity across the globe. Tournaments and leagues attracted massive viewership, with millions of fans tuning in to watch their favourite teams and players compete in a diverse array of games.
The familiar mainstays of the industry, such as Fortnite and DOTA 2, continued to keep things rock-solid in terms of both playership and viewership. In fact, prior to its long-awaited sequel’s release, the venerable competitive shooter Counter Strike: Global Offensive broke its all-time record concurrent player count with over 1.8 million players in May of 2023.
Furthermore, League of Legends’ World Championship 2023 ended up being the most popular eSports event of all time, pulling in around 6.4 million viewers worldwide, with over 100 million hours of watch-time amassed over its 116-hour duration.
Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard:
Marking one of the biggest deals in gaming history, Microsoft’s £54bn (that number still looks like a typo) acquisition of publishing giant Activision Blizzard saw the Xbox creator assume stewardship of some of the medium’s most notable franchises including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush.
If some of those names sound familiar, it’s because each respective property rakes in billions of dollars. Candy Crush alone reportedly surpassed an astonishing $20bn in revenue in 2023.
Moreover, games like the aforementioned Call of Duty and Starcraft II remain big players in the eSports arena, meaning Microsoft now has control over a handful of the sport’s biggest names. If you’d like to read more about all the ins and outs of the massive acquisition, you can find just that here.
Losing HP
Speaking of Activision Blizzard, the company was tied with one of the more substantial blows dealt to the eSports industry in 2023 with the shutting down of the Overwatch League. This particular organisation was unique in that it mirrored more traditional sports in terms of structure, with teams built around cities competing in home and away matches.
However, due to the organisation’s diminishing returns which were far from realising Activision Blizzard’s ambitious vision, a vote was held among the 20 contracted teams’ owners regarding the future of the Overwatch League. When a reported two-thirds of teams chose to depart, the writing was on the wall and Activision decided to pull the plug.
Another prominent issue in the industry throughout 2023 was the necessity for eSports to shift away from its significant reliance on sponsorship deals. Despite some huge deals being struck between teams and sponsors in the year gone, economic stagnation the world over has resulted in many potential sponsors tightening their pursestrings.
Following the pandemic in 2020, eSports experienced a growth trajectory the likes of which had never been seen as the format lent itself to the isolated world in which more traditional sporting fixtures simply weren’t possible.
However, this level of growth was simply never going to be sustainable and, now that things have settled down, sponsorships aren’t making the same returns on investment. This has prompted many to suggest that eSports needs to adopt an alternative business model. If only there were a number of ways this could be done **
Looking ahead to 2024
1. New revenue streams: It is apparent that a change in tactics is required moving into the new year in order to ensure greater levels of profitability in eSports in 2024. One thing organisations could do is take a leaf out of the books of content creators, who seem to find the prospect of monetising their audiences far less of a challenge.
One way in which this could be done is shifting away from the free viewership model that is currently the standard in the medium. As fans are currently able to stream events and other media surrounding eSports on the likes of Twitch and YouTube, there is an inherent reliance on advertising to make money.
While monetising this aspect of the medium would be ill-advised (platforms in the past have tried and failed to do exactly that), some have suggested that creating exclusive bespoke content to be delivered to consumers via a subscription or pay-per-view model could inject some much-needed revenue that doesn’t rely on sponsors.
2. Mobile gaming ‘on the move’: A new challenger has appeared in the space that some may have sneered at only a few short years ago. Yes, the mobile games market may be a complete cesspit of exploitative practices and lack of quality control, but the increasing horsepower of the smartphone has enabled some genuinely brilliant new experiences.
On one hand, pocket-sized translations of some of eSport’s biggest players are already major successes, such as PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty Mobile, but far more interesting are the wholly original creations such as the battle royale shooter Garena Free Fire, whose Brazil Pro League reportedly rakes in over 1 million viewers.
3. The Metaverse: While the Metaverse seems to have been slow off the mark, with AI becoming the prominent hot topic of tech discourse in 2023, its potential applications to all aspects of life remain tantalising. One such application could be the emergence of virtual stadia, integrating a key aspect of traditional sports into eSports in a unique fashion.
While it’s never going to quite live up to the atmosphere of a real stadium, virtual arenas such as the Virtex Stadium offer a centralised location for fans to converge and enjoy events together without the dreaded hassle of actually having to leave the house and be around other real people.
Only time will tell if the Metaverse will take the spotlight of the mainstream in 2024, but it’s easy to see the concept becoming a well-integrated component of eSports viewership at the very least. Your move, Zuckerberg and friends…
By Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily.
