How eSport Athletes and Streamers are Generating Money to Help Stimulate the Economy- Long Doan (Economics 1)

eSports is a form of competing, however instead of competing through real world experiences it is done through the world of video games. These competitions are organised by huge companies and some of the biggest games such as League of Legends, Dota and Fortnite, through eSports have given hundreds of people a chance to make an earning through competitive gaming. In the year 2019 across 4,600 different tournaments a total of $215 million was given out to eSport athletes, compared to the $13.8 million in 2012. The major difference in prize pool earnings really shows how quickly the eSport scene is growing each year.

Where is this money coming from? A normal person might ask. The prize pool money comes from multiple sources, usually these earnings are funded by tickets sold at events, money generated through in game purchases, money granted through partnerships and sponsors as well as money being drawn in from the sales of merchandise. In 2019 Epic Games gave out a total of 100 million USD to its eSport athletes across all regions of the world through multiple events such as the solo, duo and squad cash cups with their biggest event being the Fortnite 2019 World Cup, this tournament alone had a total prize pool of 30 million USD, more than the NBA championship ($13 million) as well as more than the Melbourne Cup ($6,200,00).

The most amount of money won by a singular player in one tournament was the 1^st place earning in the 2019 Fortnite World Cup, the 3 million USD reward was taken home by a 16-year-old professional gamer going by the name ‘Bugha’. In just one day Bugha became the second highest earning eSport athlete in the whole world.

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Even though these figures might seem huge, a lot of eSport athletes do not make the majority of their earnings through competing but rather by live streaming their gameplay through platforms such as Twitch, Youtube gaming and Mixer.         

In 2019, one of the top earning streamers ‘Ninja’ was reportedly earning $500,000 a month streaming Fortnite, this figure only counts his monthly subscriptions and does not include his partnership deals with Adidas, Samsung, Redbull, Mixer as well as Uber eats. His biggest contract to date was one with a live streaming platform called Mixer, which is owned by Microsoft. Experts have estimated this undisclosed contract to be as high as $100 million.

A lot of people ask questions such as ‘why would anyone would ever watch another person play video games?’ but in my opinion the answer is quite simple. We could compare this to people watching traditional sports such as basketball or soccer and the fact is that people just love to watch others do things that they can’t. Personally, I spend multiple hours a week watching a variety of streamers and competitions, amazed at just how good these players really are.

My personal vision for the future of eSports and live streaming is very bright. The statistics show that 380 million people watch professional gaming each year and the eSports industry is estimated to reach $1 billion in revenue over the next 2 years. Tell me what you guys think, do you agree or disagree on my opinions on the future of eSports. Feel free to leave a comment down below on your opinions of the progression of this industry.