I have heard the term esports for a few years now. However, I came to know of the true meaning of esports only a few days back. Now, how did that happen? I was browsing instagram when I came across a post in gamers were meeting PM Narendra Modi and, in this conversation, I heard the word esports and got curious about it. This is what made me write about this article.
Introduction
Let’s first understand what esports is? esports are a sport in which gamers compete against each other or as a team. As simple as it sounds, there is lot that goes behind the scenes in order to organize these tournaments. These tournaments require organizing and managing. There are lot of complexities, and technicalities that need to be addressed. There are plenty of career opportunities in esports.
Careers in esports industry
If you are passionate about gaming, marketing or event management, esports are an exciting and growing industry. By the year 2030, esports industry is expected to be worth 6.75 billion dollars. Let’s look at the different career options:
- Professional esports athlete: You will need exceptional gaming skills to participate in tournaments. These tournaments are held at international level. To become a professional esports athlete, you must:
- Develop gaming IQ and reflexes
- Choose a game and focus and mastering it
- Join gaming communities
- Stay cool under pressure
- Build your brand
- Compete and network
- Stay physically fit
- Join a competitive team
- Learn about esport business
- Stay updated and adapt
- Event Host/Caster/Commentator: If you have a voice that people love and would like to hear, then here is a career that you can bank on. Like any other sports, esports also require commentators. To become a wanted commentator, you should:
- Become an esports streamer
- Offer your services to an established team
- Grab attention at tournaments, tie-up with sponsors through networking.
- Educate yourself on the ways of esports
- Master the art of live commentary
- Know the ins and outs
- Seek mentorship
- Set short term and long term goals
- Be curious
- Keep learning
- Coach/Analyst: Every team needs someone who can coach them, encourage them, point their areas of improvement. You can be that coach. As Analyst, you will need to analyze the gameplay data and feedback to the coach who can then strategize the game plan. To become a coach:
- Acquire knowledge of the game. You don’t need to be a former pro player but knowledge is crucial.
- Learning coaching methods. Refer this link to choose a course that suits your passion and profile.
- Start by coaching for free
- Network with esports teams, players and organizations.
- Hone essential skills like strategizing the game, understanding the players, team building, communication and collaboration.
- Attend workshops from other experienced coaches.
- To become an analyst:
- Review and analyze professional matches and publish your analysis results.
- Understand statistical methods.
- Practise providing insightful analysis
- Keep yourself update with the current games played, meta shifts, and industry trends.
- Read articles, watch interviews and follow esports news
- create portfolio and showcase your analytical skills.
- Product Manager (PM):
- Pursue a bachelor’s degree in business management, sports management or marketing.
- Attend esports events, connect with other professions and build a network.
- Seek volunteering opportunities and internships.
- Understand specific aspects of gaming.
- Become an expert in a niche
- Look for PM roles
- Server administrator: As a server administrator, you will ensure that the online games are smooth. To do this you will be managing servers, maintaining stability, security and addressing technical issues. To become a server administrator, you should:
- Familiarize yourself with esports industry
- Learn about game titles, tournaments, and roles within esports organization
- Learn how to setup configure and maintain game servers.
- Learn about networking. Refer to this link.
- Consider obtaining relevant degree in engineering, computer science, or network administration.
- Network and connect with others in esports industry
- Event Organizer: In order to get to become an event organizer, you need to understand the aspects of event management. esports can be held both online and offline. Both type of events requires planning, organizing, managing risks, cost and execution. Learn about event management. As an event organizer you need to create a seamless experience for players, fans and sponsors. You will face multiple challenges and you need to be be prepared to face the challenges and find solutions.
- Journalist/Writer: If you have a flair for writing, esports is one of the hot topics on which you can write about in your own blog, create a youtube channel and start building your strong presence.
- Social Media Manager: Every business requires marketing through social media. To know more about how to become a social media manager, click here.
Challenges
As this industry continues to grow and evolve, it faces challenges and hurdles:
- Diversity and inclusion: Inclusion of diversity remains a challenge. A more welcoming environment for players, fans and professionals of all backgrounds needs to be created which requires some effort.
- Gender Discrimination: Women participant in esports event is limited. There is a need to encourage women to participate in these events.
- Reliance on in-person events: Esports heavily relies on live events.
- Player Health and Wellbeing: Players can get impacted due to long hours of playing, intense competition and practise. Players need to take care of their physical and mental well-being.
- Intellectual Property Protection: needs to be protected. Games, titles, music need to be legally procurred.
- Technological Challenges: There is heavy reliance on good quality internet, servers and ensuring that the game is conducted in a stable environment with no glitches.
- Sustainability and Growth: Diversified revenue streams, franchising and media rights needs exploration.
Take aways.
Like any other industry, esports also offer plenty of career options to choose from. As a teenager, you need to figure out what you want to do and what you are passionate about before embarking on a career of your choice.
FAQs
- What types of games does esports include?
- Esports covers a wide variety of video games where players compete against each other.
- Popular categories include:
- Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas like League of Legends and Defense of the Ancients 2
- Battle Royales like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
- Real-Time Strategy Games like StarCraft 2
- First-Person Shooters like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Call of Duty
- Fighting Games like Street Fighter and Super Smash Bros
- Sports Games
- Do you stream any esports events?
- Yes! Almost all matches are streamed through our site as we collect and embed streams from major esports platforms like Twitch.tv, YouTube Gaming, and Facebook.
- We act solely as a broadcaster of other companies’ and users’ streams.
- Do the listed times refer to when the game starts or when the studio starts?
- We aim to show the start time of the actual match, and the schedule is geo-located to the user’s timezone.
- What esports matches do you currently cover?
- We cover matches in games like Overwatch, League of Legends, Dota 2, CS:GO, Hearthstone, StarCraft II, Heroes of The Storm, Smite, Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, Fortnite, Rainbow Six, Rocket League, Call of Duty, Smash Bros, World of Warcraft, and King of Glory (Arena of Valor).
- Why don’t you list every available esport match, and will you add more?
- We’ve chosen to limit the number of esports to deliver an adequate list of the most popular events.
- However, we continuously evaluate our service and plan to add more esports in the future.
- What are the main features on esportsguide.com?
- Customizable filters, saved preferences, and personalized widgets.
- You can search for your favorite tournaments, teams, or matches easily.
- How can I filter my results and save them?
- Select your team or tournament as a favorite to filter results.
- Preferences are saved in your cookies.
- What’s the function of the Favorite feature?
- Marking teams or tournaments as favorites allows easy access and customization.
- How can I search for my favorite tournament/team/match?
- Simply type in the name of your preferred tournament, team, or match in the search bar at the top right-hand side.
- A list of related results will be generated to help you find what you’re looking for.
- What are the viewing figures for esports?
- Esports has a massive global audience, with millions of viewers tuning in to watch tournaments and matches.
- The exact figures vary by game, region, and event, but esports continues to grow in popularity worldwide.
