The eSports industry is continuously growing as more people watch live tournaments and the amount for prize pools increase. Participating in video games competition is increasingly being seen as a professional sport, which should prompt the industry to up its game.

The eSports industry is levelling up

Being paid to play video games may just be a fantasy of teenagers in the past; but now, it’s becoming a reality.

The electronic sports industry can now be a source of income for skilled players of video or online games. They compete with each other in various game genres, and the prize is often cold, hard cash. The genres include first-person shooters, real-time strategy, fighting and multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA); which call for savvy strategies and skills for players orteams to win.

The number of viewers worldwide across all eSport titles reached over 134 million this year, according to a 2015 report by SuperData Research. The growth in viewership has fuelled sponsorships and investments in video game competitions, increasing the prize pool for competitors. The fifth edition of the Dota 2 International competition this year offered more than $11 million in its prize pool, beating the $10 million prize money from the U.S. Golf Masters.

Due to these factors, the revenue of the eSports industry is expected to reach $465 million in 2017, according to a forecast by the research firm, Newzoo. The growing audience of competitive gaming is making eSports comparable to traditional sporting events, encouraging the industry to be more professional. Therefore, the eSports business needs to up its game in engaging gamers, as well as in organizing and promoting events to establish its name in the marketplace.

Players get their head in the game

The various genres of e-Sports games require players to hone their skills, and for competing teams to be strategic in their recruitment. Currently, teams find players through open Local Area Network (LAN) gaming events, or through referrals from their professional team members. Sometimes, they also hold tournaments where the prize is a spot to be part of their team.

Though teams are not strict in recruiting members, becoming a professional eSports player can be demanding. A professional gamer has to play the game between six to eight hours a day in order to improve strategies, learn technical skills and strengthen teamwork. They have to study the opposing team’s strategy and devise a way to defeat them. Sometimes, team members live in “Game Houses” where they can practice together and formulate their game plans to be able to win.

Paymentwall can help eSports teams get their gameface on through its donation plugin. With the plugin, teams can accept payments online from their fans, which can help in their initiatives to recruit and train professional players.

Organizing games call for a clever strategy

Due to a growing number of viewers, eSports tournaments are usually held in big venues, such as arenas or stadiums. For instance, the 2015 Call of Duty European Regional Championship was held at the Royal Opera House in London. Organizing events in massive venues call for managing ticket sales and setting up the location properly before and during the competition to provide both players and spectators an awesome experience.

Riot Games, which organizes the League of Legends World Championship every year, booked the Staples Center in Los Angeles for its October 2013 league. The arena seats 15,000 people during basketball games. The arena may be hard to fill; but in less than an hour, the tickets for the LoL event were sold out. Riot’s experience shows the strong appetite of fans for eSports. Organizers should enhance their ticketing and booking process, as well as the setting up of venues, to earn loyalty from fans and encourage more spectators to watch video game sports.

To match the appetite of game aficionados, eSports organizers can use Paymentwall’s Event Ticketing service to streamline the process of booking and buying tickets for massive competitions. Paymentwall allows them to provide fans the best payment options, to make purchasing tickets easier for them to do.

The gaming experience goes beyond the arena

As spectators fill the venues of eSports competitions, game aficionados also watch the tournaments through video streaming wherever they may be. The number of viewers that stay tuned to video game sport events has also grown. Twitch is one of the major video streaming platforms online that broadcasts videos of eSports for users.

In 2013, Twitch reported that 45 million users viewed 12 billion minutes of its videos. The number of people that viewed the video streaming of October 2013’s League of Legends World Championship reached 32 million, with eight million people watching in real-time.

For broadcasters of eSports, they need to take note of this growing appetite for video game sports streaming and maximize it. Platforms that provide paid access can use Paymentwall to collect payments from users around the world. Moreover, they can provide them with local payment options, which makes it easier for users to pay and play video streams at their own pace.

The eSports industry is increasingly adopting the attributes of traditional sports as tournaments call for skilled, competent players, and as the number of viewers grow for live and broadcasted video game competitions. To sustain its growth, eSports needs to become more professional in every aspect of organizing tournaments; from selecting players up to preparing venues for competitions. Paymentwall can help the industry improve its game by strengthening the teams that join tournaments, by streamlining the ticketing process at events and by allowing video streaming platforms to provide better payment options for their viewers.

If you want to know more about how Paymentwall can help the eSports industry, you can contact us at bizdev@paymentwall.com