What’s It All About?
Esports is the name for playing video games competitively in a semi-professional or professional format. It’s an exciting sector which attracts huge global audiences — in 2021 over a billion hours were spent watching esports!
Some esport games are closely connected to traditional sports, such as FIFA or Formula 1. There are also games which offer totally new competitive experiences like League of Legends and Smash.
Esport Athletes
The participants of esport competitions are called esport athletes. They spend time training and practicing their skills, with the aim of qualifying to and winning tournaments and competitions.
The story of an esport athlete often begins with someone who realises their esport potential after spending many hours with a game, and proving their skill by earning a high ranking.
This can lead them towards an attitude of “training hard”, because long hours led to an initial success.
However, the industry is quickly transitioning from “training hard” to “training smart”. Achieving consistent performance in esports involves many of the same practices as traditional sports — eating well, sleeping well, stretching to avoid injury, and working with support staff like coaches and sport psychologists.
Teams and Organisations
Similar to sports teams and clubs, esport organisations exist to support athletes in their journey.
Organisations often have a manager who is responsible for looking after athletes, and ensuring they have a healthy environment that enables them to reach peak performance. A manager might spend their time arranging friendly matches with other teams, scouting talent, or managing visas and booking flights.
Some organisations also provide their athletes with access to facilities and support staff: such as coaches, nutritionists, and sport psychologists.
Starting a new organisation isn’t easy. It involves either a lot of unpaid work to get a team off the ground, or finding investors and convincing them of the vision. Many organisations struggle because sponsors and investors may be excited about short-term success, instead of the long-term work it takes to build a lasting brand.
Brand Management
Since earning prize money is unreliable, esport organisations often position themselves as lifestyle brands to earn money. This means working with graphic designers to develop a logo and brand identity, managing a social media presence, and selling merchandise to fans.
When an organisation has a strong identity and an engaged audience, this makes it easier to secure sponsorships.
| In 2021, over 60% of the revenue of esport organisations came from sponsorships.
Several clothing and fashion brands including Puma, Adidas, Armani, and Burburry have partnered with esport organisations. These brand partnerships are a key opportunity to promote merchandise and connect brands with younger customers.
Traditional sport clubs like FC Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain have also engaged with esports to remain connected to their next generation of fans.
Events and Production
Competitions are at the heart of esports, and event production exists to make sure everyone can engage with them to the fullest.
Playing esports in-person is considered the premium form of competition because there is no “network lag” or delay. This is known as a “LAN event”. These can take place in hotels, conference centres, or even stadiums. Often a crowd of fans will travel to watch their favourite players and connect with others in the community.
Virtual events are common, and are much cheaper to run. However, as athletes can be distributed across many countries, network lag can negatively impact the experience.
Events are usually streamed online using platforms like Twitch and YouTube. Technical staff are required to set up and monitor the audio and video feeds, handle microphones and camera, and ensure lighting is correct. For some games, an observer is required to make sure the in-game virtual camera follows the action.
A team of broadcast talent will usually be part of the production. “Shoutcasters” will describe the story of the game as it unfolds, while a panel of analysts might share their thoughts between games. To keep events entertaining, additional content pieces might be pre-recorded, and these sometimes feature sponsors.
Technologies
New technologies are introduced every year which push the boundaries of esports.
Data analytics is a valued skill which helps people to understand the complex trends and patterns in esport games. For an athlete, analysts can help reveal how an opponent thinks. For event producers, the right statistics can help with data-driven storytelling to excite the audience.
Platforms like Twitch regularly add new features, and broadcasters compete to make best use of them. Virtual reality is also being explored to create more immersive spectator experiences and connect fans through virtual spaces.
Academics work on technologies to better understand human performance and how it can be improved. The University of Limerick partnered with Logitech to produce software for helping athletes improve their aim in the game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
Influencers
An esport influencer is someone who connects with an audience through competitive games.
Influencers often have their own channel on Twitch or YouTube, and maintain an active social media presence. They regularly produce gaming content, such as interviews with athletes, podcasts with other community figures, or simply streaming themselves playing games.
They are sometimes invited to esport events, where they may form part of the broadcast talent. Being good at the game isn’t a requirement to be an influencer, but it helps as fans often prefer talent who can articulate the game well.
Esport organisations sometimes employ or sponsor influencers to help build their following and stay connected with fans.
Esports in Ireland
Ireland has a small esports presence, but due to the digital nature of the industry it’s possible to get involved from anywhere in the world.
Events
Finding a place in the industry usually starts with attending events, whether virtual or in person. Ireland has a number of esport events which are a great way to get involved and form connections:
| Riot Games opened a remote broadcast centre in Swords, where over 100 staff work on broadcast engineering and esports event production.
Teams and Organisations
There are several esport organisations which are headquartered in Ireland:
- Munster Rubgy Gaming has fielded an esports team competing in League of Legends.
- WYLDE has esport teams in a number of games, and offers sponsorship to content creators.
| The 10 highest-earning esport athletes from Ireland have won over $700k in prize money.
Europe’s first esports research lab LERO is based in the University of Limerick. Its researchers study the skills which are transferable across esports, and which can be used in other careers.
Esports around the World
While esports is a global phenomenon, in many ways it is also local.
Several cities have invested in a long-term relationship with esports. This helps to support local businesses, and attracts international tourism.
- Jönköping in Sweden hosts Dreamhack, one of the longest-running LAN events in Europe.
- Katowice in Poland has a partnership with ESL, and has been called a “mecca” of esports.
- Shanghai is currently China’s top esports city. However, several other cities in China are competing — by investing hundreds of millions into building esports infrastructure like stadiums and training facilities.
Esports has a different cultural recognition in different countries:
- South Korea famously treats esport as a national sport, with tournaments for games like Starcraft being broadcast on televisions in bars.
- The UK has been proactive in adding esports as an extracurricular activity in schools. This allows students to develop STEM skills and digital literacy while connecting with other schools in their region.
- Since so many young people play games, the official sport federation of Denmark has chosen to provide funding and support to its local sport clubs for running esports. This brings gamers into the local community.
- Finland’s top performing esport athletes have been invited to the exclusive Independence Day ball, often a once-in-a-lifetime moment of recognition for a person’s contributions to the nation.
- In parts of Asia and other regions, playing esports on mobile is becoming the norm. This is not so common in Europe or North America.
Working Environment
Esports isn’t a single ecosystem — there are many individual esport games which have a distinct culture, audience, and standards. Switching to a different esport game can be a significant career move.
Transitioning into Esports
You don’t have to have a background playing video games to get into esports!
A significant portion of the esports workforce arrived there “by accident”. As a growing industry which covers many disciplines, talent is often scouted from other industries. It’s common to hear stories of people bringing something unique to the space and “making” a role for themselves.
What matters is an ability to learn, and being excited for the future. Many employers are personally passionate about esports, and expect to work with people who share the same energy.
One way of showing this and “earning your stripes” is getting involved in amateur esports — such as the esports club in a school or college, or volunteering as part of an esport game community. Similarly, work experience at an existing organisation can be valuable.
“Networking” by meeting other people and forming connections is an important skill. Opportunities in esports are often circulated among personal networks and backed by referrals. While someone might get into esports “by accident”, moving within the industry is easiest when you have contacts.
The benefits
- Connected with games — the esports industry is filled with people who are passionate about games, competition, and rich data-driven storytelling. This feeling of “community” can be a big motivator.
- Being influential — as esports is a young industry, there is plenty of opportunity for individuals to leave their mark, have an impact on policies and standards, or create a personal legacy.
- Transferable skills — if you can keep up with a rapidly evolving field like esports, this demonstrates readiness for future jobs — some of which may not even exist yet! Esports is a great way to develop personal skills, digital skills, communication, and leadership in preparation for other careers.
- Growth industry — esports is a billion dollar global industry which is still expanding, and values an entrepreneurial spirit.
The downsides
- Exploitation — the industry has few standards and weak representation for workers. Athletes and employees can be offered predatory contracts, or in some organisations may be expected to work without pay for extended periods.
| Please seek professional legal advice before signing any contract in esports. There are esports law professionals who can review a contract at an affordable price to make sure that terms are fair.
- Job insecurity — maintaining a career in esports is not easy. Sponsors can pull out, a tournament might be cancelled at short notice, or the game publisher might stop supporting a product.
| About 80% of esport athletes have a career lasting two years or less.
- High stress — part of the reason that live esport events attract a global audience is the high stakes. Whether it’s as an athlete or event production staff — there will be constant pressure to deliver results.
- Low and uncertain pay — salaries in esports can be low, and for athletes their earnings may depend on outcomes like placement in a tournament. Competitions can be slow to pay out prizes, with delays of many months.
- Travel — while there are perks to visiting new places, a busy schedule of global travel to attend events and “boot camps” can be exhausting. Esport athletes and broadcast talent may become tired of spending time away from home.
Inclusiveness in the Industry
As a digital activity, esports has enormous potential to be one of the most inclusive forms of competition.
For the time being esports remains a male-dominated field. There are many explanations for this. Some factors to consider are:
- Societal biases can cause male players to spend more time playing and building confidence with games, as young boys may be given easier access to game consoles and PCs in their home. Game publishers tend to prioritise marketing and appealing to male players, which increases how regularly they play.
- Most existing networks and role models in esports consist of male players. In team games, peer-learning from other players is crucial to achieving top performance. Being excluded from teams or informal networks can impact a player’s growth potential.
- Harassment and stereotyping online are more severe towards girls and gender minorities. This can cause people to quit, or engage less in competitive play.
| Of the 1000 highest-earning esport athletes, only 2 are women.
| A study by France Esports in 2021 divided the population into regular gamers, recreational esport athletes, and amateur esport athletes. Female players represent 51% of French gamers, but only 35% of recreational athletes, and 7% of amateur athletes.
Organisations like Women in Games and Equal Esports are engaging with the entire industry to propose more inclusive practices. They also offer career mentorship and support programmes.
There are also initiatives to support gamers who are neurodiverse or have physical impairments. Adaptive technology offers an alternative to keyboards and gamepads, allowing more gamers to compete.
Individual games often have dedicated groups and communities which focus on inclusion, and offer an opportunity to engage in competition in a welcoming space. These are a great way to meet like-minded people and find out more about esports.
Skills and Knowledge
Esports is all about competition, and there is fierce competition for opportunities. Each year new games launch and new technologies appear, so things are constantly changing. The ability to learn quickly and adapt is essential.
What it takes to be an Athlete
Like traditional sports, being a successful esport athlete requires a variety of skills. These include hand-eye coordination and quick reaction times, and also personal skills like self-discipline, resilience, and being able to perform under pressure.
Many top esport games are team games, which means success also depends on being a strong team-player and communicator. Maintaining a healthy relationship with team-mates, captains, and other staff in the organisation outside of the game is a key part of the job.
One of the draws of esports is that success and fame can arrive overnight. For gamers who aren’t used to it, attention from media and fans can be overwhelming. Especially after a loss, fan criticism can be harsh. Part of being an athlete is knowing how to manage life in the public eye.
Additionally, athletes should consider their personal brand. Esport organisations shuffle their players often, and having a good reputation and network can help a player find their next team, sponsor, or opportunity. Part of maintaining a good reputation is not badmouthing others!
Sportsmanship is an important quality in a player, and is best thought of as a long-term investment. In the heat of competition, some players may be tempted to engage in trash talk or use slurs — but this short-term release can have lasting consequences. Players can end up in conflict with sponsors, being given penalties in a competition, or even having a travel visa denied.
Training and Courses
Plenty of qualifications for other industries can be relevant for a career in esports. However, it is up to you to find a way to bridge these skills into this new industry.
In 2020, Waterford IT launched Ireland’s first esports scholarship to support students who have demonstrated their participation and achievement in esports.
Over 100 universities and colleges in the UK offer the Esports BTEC qualification, which focuses on training students in the skills needed to succeed in the esports industry. Several colleges in Northern Ireland also offer this qualification. (Note that the BTEC is a flexible programme — some colleges run it for 6 months, while others run it for 2 years.)
School or Esports?
Many esport athletes discover their potential to compete while still in full-time education. Given the demanding hours of practice for esport athletes, this can lead to a dilemma about whether to postpone school to fully pursue esports.
On one side of the dilemma, it’s true that younger players can be successful. Esports performance is reliant on the ability to rapidly and accurately respond to complex visual stimuli, which begins to decline past 24 years of age.
| In 2021, the 18-year-old Illya Mulyarchuk won $3.6 million dollars as part of the team which won The International tournament for the game Dota 2.
On the other side, the field is highly competitive and for every winner there are thousands who fail to qualify. Competing as an esport athlete deserves more than dedication — it needs a support network and an honest plan for what to do if things don’t work out.
In Sweden, Esports is an optional subject for the state exams, just like Physical Education or Computer Science. Not every school offers it, but 50% of students who choose it do so because of their career aspirations.
The right answer will be different for each individual. If you “train smart”, the skills learned in esports can be a great asset when returning to education or work in other industries.
Transitioning into Future Careers
Competitive gamers and esport athletes commit large amounts of time to master a unique range of specialised cognitive skills.
Research shows that gamers are highly sought-after as air traffic controllers, pilots, and military drone operators — professions which work under time pressure with human lives on the line.
In 2020, the Federal Aviation Authority in the US ran a recruitment campaign called “Level Up” targeting gamers for their competencies in air traffic control roles.
Esports is also a hot topic in academia. As a widespread cultural phenomenon which is rapidly evolving, it is a “test lab” for our future digital society. Researchers in sociology, economics, psychology, and behavioural science are closely involved in understanding how people engage with esports.
Further resources
- British Esports maintains a list of careers advice.