(Photo via Philadelphia Fusion)
You’ve seen the
investment hype, you’ve balked at the
forecasted market size ($1.7 billion in revenue by 2021), and you’ve weighed whether to get into the game yourself.
But you need some real “today” numbers to make sense of it all and understand if the esports market is overblown or undervalued. Make no mistake, the hype isn’t just real, it’s somehow getting bigger.
We start in the US, which is seeing a flood of esports-related investments. One thing that the massive online audience for esports has long been missing is sufficient physical space to host events, but sports franchises are
starting to fill the gap.
Once construction is complete, spectators will be able to catch a game of the
Overwatch League in Philadelphia at the USD $50 million Fusion Arena owned by Comcast Spectator. Or they’ll head to the new Allegiant Stadium under construction in Las Vegas for the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders, which will host a sponsored lounge from
Amazon.com Inc (
NASDAQ:AMZN)’s stream service
Twitch.
Mass-market penetration is also happening on two great public-facing channels: malls and universities. Universities and colleges have seen the size of the market and are putting a lot of
money and scholarships on esports and video games, while massive US mall operator
Simon Property Group (
NYSE:SPG) made a
$5 million investment in esports company Allied Esports to bring facilities to malls.
And if you’re worried about the scene’s longevity, look no further than
League of Legends. The game just celebrated its tenth anniversary at its annual World Championship,
where it broke viewership records with 3.7 million peak viewers (almost
double the record from the previous year).
Increasingly, investors are looking to turn that massive viewership and support into revenues. While the Newzoo anticipated revenues are already large, we can see the proof in
China’s massive market. In 2019, the country’s esports industry brought in more than 50 billion yuan (US $7.3 billion) and employed more than 400,000 people.
Given all of the positive momentum, it’s no surprise that esports is
continuing to attract investors. Some readers might feel like they’ve been hearing about esports for a long time, but what many may have dismissed as a passing wave is looking increasingly like a rising tide instead.
To see some of the esports companies Stockhouse is watching, click here.