Page 18 - Toy & Hobbly Retailer Magazine August-October 2019

EXPERT OPINION
BY KATE MURRAY
How do we grow
Australia’s eSports
industry?
An area ripe for licensing, competitive video gaming is
a flourishing and lucrative global business but Australia needs to do more to increase its presence in the eSports arena. Kate Murray reports.
IN May 2018, Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, the largest indoor arena in Australia, was a sell-out. The venue has hosted performers including
Beyonce, Madonna, Taylor Swift and Stevie Wonder, but on this occasion more than 18,000 seats were filled by enthusiasts eager to see some of the world’s best professional video gamers doing battle.
For three days, spectators watched intently as teams from as far afield as Brazil, the US and China competed at the Intel Extreme Masters. The event centred on the computer game, Counterstrike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), and every strategic move was monitored as the
teams fought for superiority on the streets of a virtual Moroccan village.
Welcome to the world of eSports – the billion- dollar industry of competitive video gaming.
The size of the crowd in Sydney, and the deep level of interest from players and spectators, are regularly repeated at venues across the globe.
But in Australia, a nation that prides itself on sporting prowess, eSports athletes struggle to compete on an international level. Some relocate overseas where their video gaming talents are better supported, financed and broadcast, and where there is better internet connectivity to foster training.
University of Melbourne researchers studying eSports spectatorship in Australia say we need to step up investment in this rapidly growing industry to remain a leading sporting nation.
BEYOND TRADITIONAL SPORTS
eSports are multiplayer video games played competitively for the entertainment of spectators. Players earn amateur, professional and world rankings and formal eSports teams have specialised training, uniforms, branding, sponsorship and extensive fan bases. There are almost 300 million viewers worldwide.
The world’s best eSports players boast career earnings upwards of US$3 million, with prize money rivalling that of the Superbowl; one tournament offered over US$20 million last year.
“eSports isn’t for the faint hearted,” University of Melbourne PhD candidate and team member studying the industry, David Cumming says.
“It requires high skill, dexterity, speed, comprehensive knowledge, tactics, coordination and problem solving,” he says.
Having grown exponentially over the last 10 years, analysts estimate the eSports industry will be worth more than US$1.4 billion by 2020. But Australia is slow to recognise the financial potential and is also not providing the level of network infrastructure the industry demands.
“In Australia, corporations haven’t really recognised there’s an international eSports industry, so they’re not doing anything to compete with or catch up to the international scene at the moment,” University of Melbourne’s Networked Society Institute Research Fellow, Dr Robbie Fordyce says.
18 TOY & HOBBY RETAILER AUGUST / SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2019