Whether or whether you distinguish a “split-push” from a “power spike,” it is impossible to ignore the popularity and influence of esports.
With hundreds of millions of players and viewers worldwide, marketing collaborations with companies such as Gucci, BMW, and Coca-Cola, and a showcase at the Commonwealth Games, 2022 appears to be another prosperous year for competitive gaming.
So, what do the boisterous younger siblings of conventional sport have planned for 2023 to continue this upward trajectory?
For those who are still uncertain, esports refers to a variety of video games played competitively by professionals throughout the world. Frequently held in stadiums, televised events attract large audiences. By 2025, the esports market is projected to be worth $1.9 billion (£1.4 billion).
The founder of Esports News UK, Dominic Sacco, says that before further expansion and larger viewership, the business must first accept certain fundamental changes in how it will be organized in the future.
“A group supported by the Saudi Arabian government acquired the two largest esports event organizers in the world, ESL, and FaceIt, at the start of 2022,” he explains. “I believe we will see more of this in the future, and it will be a major trend in 2023 and beyond.”
This transaction was worth $1.5 billion (£1.2 billion) and is merely the beginning, as the Saudi government-backed Savvy Gaming firm plans to invest $38 billion (£31 billion) by 2030 to transform the nation into a global esports hotspot.
Sacco explains that the deal has divided the esports community, with some welcoming the investment as a way to boost growth, but adding: “Some LGBTQ talent is hesitant to fly to events in Saudi Arabia, many others in the community have said they feel uncomfortable traveling there, and a Rocket League team refused to participate in an event there last summer.”
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has been accused of “sports washing” – investing large sums of money in popular sports, such as purchasing Newcastle Football Club and establishing the new LIV golf circuit. Some claim that this is being done to divert attention away from the country’s human rights record.
Some members of the esports community, according to Sacco, believe that something similar is occurring to them, which saps the scene of some of its energy and excitement.
If the current tendency continues, players, presenters, commentators, and event organizers could spend more time in 2023 engaging in significant ethical discussions on which events to attend. If the infighting that resulted from the introduction of LIV golf is any indication, it will continue to dominate the debate for quite some time.
Cultural relevance
For Naz Aletaha, the Global Head of League of Legends (LoL) Esports, the key to success in 2023 and beyond is to keep their core following in mind while pursuing new audiences. Not always is the grass greener on the opposite side.
She states that the focus should be on developing content that “hyper series” the existing community while giving others a cause to care about the sport.
Aletaha explains, “Our major focus will always be on our existing audience.” “We aim to make the sport as interesting and accessible as possible to facilitate growth. Consequently, I would argue that our secondary target audience consists of those who play or are familiar with League of Legends, but who may not be actively involved in its esports aspect.”
Alongside DOTA 2 and Counter-Strike, League of Legends enters its thirteenth season in 2023 as one of the top three esports. At the 2022 World Championships, competitors competed for a portion of the £1.8 million prize pool.
The size and quantity of this prospective audience are substantial. Aletaha states that “nearly 600,000,000 people have played and continued to play League of Legends” – plenty of prospective viewers to continue boosting ratings.
All of Aletaha’s and her team’s efforts are geared toward making their sport as enticing as possible to these individuals, who already know their game, the rules, and the cosmos.
Their yearly World Championship event, which Aletaha refers to as their “North Star,” is mostly responsible for transforming this audience into more devoted esports fans.
In 2022, Lil Nas X performed at Worlds, the League of Legends equivalent of the Super Bowl. According to the LoL CEO, it is the tales that large events like this generate that will continue to attract more casual fans.
The goal, she says, which is unlikely to be reached by 2023, is to make the yearly event as popular as the World Cup, not just for the action, but “because they’re such culturally significant occasions.”
Aletaha believes that introducing the players for who they are and what they believe is the next step for the team.
“Why should this audience care about Lee “Faker” Sang-hook and Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu, two of our best players? And these players from throughout the globe. There are numerous reasons why they should be interested in them, therefore storytelling, narrative development, and crescendo moments are a major focus of ours.”
Sacco concurs that set-piece events are essential for the expansion of esports in 2023, not only for League of Legends but also for a range of other titles in the sector.
He feels that staging large esports events in the United Kingdom is the best way to establish cultural and mainstream recognition, but he is concerned that other sites are now more advantageous.
“London and Partners, a business development organization funded by the Greater London Authority, aspires to make London the esports capital of Europe, but we now lag behind Copenhagen and Paris,” he observes.
“In France, President Macron has spoken about the need to do more in this field, but when it comes to major events, we’re a bit missing, so I’d like for our politicians to gain a greater grasp of esports, and the prospects they present.”
Aletaha is confident in the continuous expansion of esports regardless of what 2023 may bring because, as she argues: “The true game-changer will occur when generational growth occurs.
“The belief that people enjoy sports because they grew up knowing the rules, so they don’t need a tutorial when they watch; they can simply enjoy the tales.
Therefore, as the present generation of supporters introduces their children to the sport, its popularity will undoubtedly increase.
In the summer of 2023, the Olympics, a conventional sporting institution, will hold an esports demonstration event. Singapore will host a four-day hybrid physical and virtual sports competition.
However, Sacco is not enthusiastic about this development. He says that the International Olympic Committee has missed what makes esports so popular and should instead interact with games that already have robust competitive scenes – such as the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
He does not believe the esports community will participate meaningfully in the Olympics unless they connect with these titles.
Considering the demographics of esports enthusiasts and the IOC’s desire to attract more young people to the Olympics, he argues: “To quote esports analyst Paul Chaloner, the Olympics need esports more than esports need the Olympics.”
Whether he is correct or not, 2023 is expected to be a busy and hard year for competitive gaming.
