Esports & Gaming Roundtable
“The opportunity to reach new audiences is also bound to speed up inclusion as organisations realise that a diverse roster of players will capture a larger audience and with a larger audience comes greater revenue opportunities.”
Public Investment Fund is possibly the biggest news in the history of esports, particularly because these kinds of purchases mirror the large-scale investments we now see in traditional sports, such as Premier League football teams. It’s good news because it clearly points to belief in long-term growth in the market.”
What are the current developments in the UK esports market? Mike Hart, Box: “As esports truly emerges as a viable commercial venture within the UK, many sporting bodies at both club and international level are creating their own esports divisions within their organisations. Tis opens up another touchpoint for clubs to engage with their fanbase, as well as extending their revenue possibilities through sponsorships and prizemoney. Tis is the development required for esports in the UK, as the grassroots player base is there to feed through. What is needed is large organisations with a proven track record to lead the way and create the interest in professional esports tournaments that capture the public’s imagination. Tis was demonstrated during lockdown when premier league football clubs teamed up with EA sports for a lockdown tournament involving their professional footballers, who have an enormous reach.”
Toby Roberts, Wired2Fire: “Adding esports as a pilot event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham is a big
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development, for the important reasons already mentioned such as opening up to a wider audience. At this stage many fans of traditional sports, particularly older generations, may not even know what the term esports refers to, so this is a great showcase for the industry in the UK.”
How are women being actively encouraged into the sports world? Mike Hart, Box: “As is being seen across many different sectors, greater growth can be achieved through greater diversity. Te inclusion of women within esports is at the forefront of this and heavily backed by the British Esports’ Women in esports initiative, whose aim is to raise awareness and encourage femme identifying/femme presenting non-binary players to take part in a welcoming esports community. With many high profile female streamers and an ever-increasing female player-base, there’s certainly a large talent pool of players to choose from. Te opportunity to reach new audiences is also bound to speed up inclusion as organisations realise that a diverse roster of players will capture a larger audience and with a larger audience comes greater revenue opportunities.”
Toby Roberts, Wired2Fire: “Tere are a number of women-only esports teams, tournaments and leagues, and with the continued overall growth in the number of people gaming, there is still growing interest in esports from both men and women.”
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