Esports Market

The global Esports market size is expected to grow from USD 1,197.3 million in 2021 to USD 3,659.7 million by 2027 at a CAGR of 20.5%.

Impact of COVID-19 on Global Esports Market

With sporting events around the world canceled due to the COVID-19 epidemic, sports and games have seen a rapid increase in popularity as people seek more entertainment. The increase in thunderstorms fills the living space just as it brings entertainment to many homes. Online games allow people to keep in touch, even when closed, with major topics such as League of Legends, Call of Duty and FIFA, or through broadcast events. The post lockdown esports market is likely to attract increased levels of investment and trading partners. Some will be new to the industry and wish to participate. Esport companies should look to show investors a growing market in the next few months, supported by competent management teams and strategies to drive this. This will not only remove the misconceptions but also help open a new set of investors, brands, and sponsors who have not yet been found.

Driver: Growing popularity of video games

As competitive video games continue to integrate popular culture, global investors, brands, and media are all paying attention. Buyers too. There will be 30 million esports viewers by 2022, an increase of 12% from 2021, according to our estimates. The pop-acculturation of the esports industry has helped power out explosions in sports investment and revenue. Esports has hit the stratosphere largely due to the social part of live streaming and play. Broadcast platforms for video games such as Twitch and YouTube Gaming offer fans direct communication with players and teams, while many mainstream communities allow that communication to flourish. Some sports organizations, such as the FaZe Clan, also resort to violence in places like commercial real estate, lending their most popular products rather than just sticking to sports. Like traditional professional sports, sponsored sports teams, franchises, admission deals, cash prizes from tournament winners, and more — all contribute to the annual revenue and total balance. Once the epidemic subsides, esports leagues are likely to resume their efforts to expand their audience by hosting live matches with regional sports teams in a way that will more closely mimic the traditional sports league.

Restraint: Esport gambling

Sports betting represents the most popular brand among esports fans. Betting on esports is almost identical to traditional sports betting, with the caveat that the esports betting product is slightly more developed than traditional sports betting products. Players can choose between cash-based or skin-based sites when betting on esports matches. In terms of popular games, as the chart below suggests, League of Legends betting real money earns a pack, but CS: GO betting is a second.

Opportunity: Increasing number of online gaming events

The global video game industry is booming, despite the widespread economic disruption caused by the coronavirus. With the trend of social downtime reducing consumer and business activity to a minimum, games offer a distraction that includes home-based people who want to connect with the community, and initial data shows significant growth during gaming and sales since the closure began. Game revenue is almost certainly driven by consumer spending, but the business model has changed dramatically in recent years. Consumers today buy fewer games than decades ago, but spend more time with those games, moving the business model from a single unit to a recurring income earned based on active users.

Challenge: Lack of standardization

Most sports saw the ruling Global Sports Organizations form naturally as it grew. They were an integral part of the process of suspension and professionalism. This did not happen in stadiums, leaving the industry with different challenges going forward. Amid all this growth, it seems that the management side of esports has been largely forgotten. As an emerging sector, the sports industry does not yet have a unified source of governance. Instead, the big teams offer domination by the game publishers themselves, each controlling only the gaming space of their games.

Sponsorships and direct advertisements segment to account for the largest share during the forecast period

The sports industry has been growing and stabilizing as a strength to deal with for a long time now, and companies with millions of advertising budgets are gaining interest. They need the sustainability of their support services and broader reach. Right now big esports events can offer just that. Many enduring brands (companies that sell esports products) such as HyperX and Intel, already have well-established sponsorship contracts with top teams and leagues. This proved to be a wise investment as they were able to increase their market share and product awareness among esports fans and, therefore, increase sales of their products.

Asia Pacific to hold the largest share during the forecast period

The Asia Pacific is the fastest growing sports district in the world with endless opportunities for game engineers, advertisers, and strategists. One-third of the Asia Pacific international companies have invested in eSports last year, and 78% plan to do the same. Advertisers are moving fast to benefit from this ever-increasing movement. The Asia Pacific sports business has been instrumental in expanding the sporting culture of the sport, and several Asia Pacific countries other than the original sports giants, Korea and China, are now beginning to expand their influence in the sector through effective measures and investment. related infrastructure. The whole of Asia has recently become a pioneer of sports. While Korea and China are still major market capitalists in terms of their investment and public interest, other Asia Pacific countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan are now building momentum to expand their influence in the digital environment.

Key Players

The major players operating in the global Esports market are Activision Blizzard (US), Modern Times Group (Sweden), FACEIT (UK), Nintendo (Japan), Valve Corporation (US), Gfinity (UK), Tencent (China), Turner Broadcasting System (US), CJ Corporation (South Korea), and Electronic Arts (EA) (US).