Introducing E-sport
When people think that the E-sports industry is an impractical profession, the development of technology E-sports industry has also continued developing more new business models in recent years. E-sport is the abbreviation of Electronic Sports. “Electronic” refers to how the sport is played with the help of various hardware and software and the environment created by it, similar to the equipment and venues in traditional sports. Although E-sports is divided into many categories and projects, the core must be confrontation and competition. Nevertheless, many people have a common misunderstanding that online games are the same as E-sports. This view is wrong; with the continuous turnover of E-sports projects, E-sports is not limited to single-player games with local area networks. However, no matter single-player games or multiplayer games, as long as they meet the two characteristics of “electronic” and “competitive,” they can be called E-sports in a broad sense.
Gaining More Acceptance
E-sports has now been recognized by several international sports organizations and is gradually emerging as a significant international sporting event. In addition, E-sports as a new sports industry is gradually being recognized by the nation. While E-sports continues to make breakthroughs, the popularity of E-sports is also deepening. The following two factors boost the development of the e-sports industry. Firstly, technology is driving the development of e-sports, which itself needs the support of many cutting-edge technologies—for example, 5G, VR, BIG DATA technology, Etc. Even with the support of the E-sports industry, game design and development technology may become the general pioneer technology in the fourth industrial revolution. Secondly, through the national government’s policy to encourage E-sports. In recent years, China has become the world’s fastest-growing and most concentrated E-sports market. In April 2019, China’s National Bureau of Statistics published the latest “Statistical Classification of Sports Industry (2019)”, where E-sports was included in two major categories of sports performance activities; the General Administration of Market Regulation released 13 new professions to the society. Due to the virtue of the social platform, the national policy for the promotion and support of e-sports. The e-sports industry is also getting more and more attention from the public, and it is because of the positive view of e-sports. The prejudices and misconceptions of the masses about this industry are slowly disappearing and decreasing. At the same time, with the popularity of e-sports, it has gradually become an important international sports event.
E-sports Business Model
More than just as a branch of sports, it also involves anchors, media, cultural and creative products, content, marketing, and other related industries. With a billion user base and its unique culture and youthful vitality, E-sports ecology is seen as a new marketing blue ocean. It is attracting more and more big companies from traditional industries to enter the game. The E-sports industry has gradually formed a closed ecological loop from the highest level professional league, regional city tournaments with high participation, online video broadcasting, and offline club activities, which also brings together a comprehensive user group including core audiences of E-sports events, gamers, and audiences of entertainment-derived content. Coupled with the youthful attributes of E-sports culture, it has gradually become a marketing tool for brands to harvest young consumers. The industrialization of E-sports has inevitably made E-sports business a trend, while business models related to E-sports have developed. Nowadays, the more popular and the broadest audience is undoubtedly the live broadcast of electronic events. Compared to traditional sports events, live game events have unique advantages for E-sports, and live revenue has become an essential part of E-sports revenue. More and more E-sports users are willing to spend money to support their favorite players. In recent years E-sports anchors have become an emerging high-income group. Their income sources are very diversified, including platform signing fees, advertising and promotion costs, and E-commerce sales. According to the survey, the conversion rate of live e-sports reaches 15%. Therefore, live with goods has become an essential way of income growth for anchors. The second model is through title sponsorship. As the E-sports industry becomes a more mature business model, many brands have focused their attention on it, making e-sports a significant new marketing position. There is more and more news of big brands sponsoring teams or tournaments. The entry of more and more investors has made E-sports leagues more formalized and commercialized, and several giant companies have been pouring in to compete for the E-sports market. For example, Nike and the Tencent League of Legends Pro League launched in-depth cooperation to create exclusive team uniforms, attracting the attention of many E-sports fans. Not only has E-sports become a new language for young people, with a self-contained culture and spirit, but more and more brands have also started to use E-sports as a marketing interface, and the E-sports business is bursting with vitality.
Misconceptions of the public
Although E-sports is now attracting more and more attention and concern, not everyone thinks that E-sports is a project worth investing in? There are still many people who think that people who choose the path of e-sports are not doing their jobs, playing with things, and wasting time. It is believed that E-sports is equivalent to “heroin” in the electronic world, which has a negative effect on the study and future of teenagers. Because some online games have to purchase skins, weapons in order to move on to the next level, it can mislead children to steal from their parents. More seriously, excessive video game playing can lead to health problems, such as sudden death and joint disease. However, the E-sports industry is not as bad as it seems, and it is actually more challenging to become a pro-player than to get into college. Because becoming a pro-player in the E-sports industries is one in a million. The players have to practice more than ten hours a day. Furthermore, E-sports is not a waste of time and a health hazard; it was originally intended to be an intellectual rivalry sport between people using electronic devices as sports machinery. Therefore, e-sports can improve the human brain response and relax the body and mind and relieve stress. With the development of technology, eSports have also started to enter the business world. More and more novel business models and business opportunities have been developed.
The Future
As technology development is now more and more rapid and advanced, people also smell the possibility of developing business opportunities on the road of technology. Perhaps in the next ten years, the eSports industry constantly tries to set itself right and improve the mechanism. Therefore, it is more critical for us to accept the advantages of this industry, remove the disadvantages of this industry, and strive to develop the E-sports industry.
Reference:
1）Radman Peša, A., Čičin-Šain, D., & Blažević, T. (2017). NEW BUSINESS MODEL IN THE GROWING E-SPORTS INDUSTRY. Poslovna Izvrsnost, 11(2), 121–131. https://doi.org/10.22598/pi-be/2017.11.2.121
2）Ho, J., Poh, F., Zhou, J., & Zipser, D. (2019). China consumer report 2020. Mckinsey and Company.
Self-Reflection
The genre of this research paper is more Argumentative, and I chose to take the side of agreeing that eSports is a good business possibility to make my arguments and proofs. Aside from the fact that I had to complete this class assignment, I felt the need to write this research paper because I wanted to show more people the business possibilities of the industry. There are still a lot of prejudices and misconceptions about the E-sports industry because of the lack of understanding and knowledge about the industry. Because of these misconceptions and prejudices, the business of this industry may not be recognized by the public. But after my research and understanding in writing this research paper, in fact, the new industry of eSports with the development and progress of modern technology creates more employment space and development space for the younger generation. So, what I hope to achieve is to let more people see the possibility and development of E-sports. And to eliminate the prejudice and misunderstanding that E-sports is just playing games and wasting time. I hope that people will give this profession the same opportunities and treatment as other emerging professions. I think the potential audience for this paper is people who have a love for E-sports and a desire to move into the E-sports industry but still have doubts about the E-sports business model. This research paper will explain the business model of the eSports industry and identify the future possibilities of the E-sports industry for them. What my audience and I have in common is that I too have curiosity and uncertainty about the industry, so with this research paper, I hope to find the answers my audience is looking for, as well as the answers I am looking for.
