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The WTIA teamed up with member company, Foster Pepper, on March 23 to host a gaming panel on the topic of eSports. Attendees gathered at the law firm’s downtown Seattle office space to learn more about the phenomenon of electronic sports, or “eSports”. Panelists included Foster Pepper litigator and eSports attorney, Bryce Blum, eSports consultant and former professional League of Legends gamer, Stephen “Snoopeh” Ellis, business development and strategy manager at Microsoft Game Studios, James Kuk, and CEO of Battlefy, Jason Xu.

Moderator Matthew Hooper, Chair of the Media Entertainment and Game Group at Foster Pepper, started the evening off with an easy question: what is eSports? In its simplest definition, Blum defined eSports as “the rolling industry surrounding competitive video gaming.” A booming entertainment industry in Korea, eSports is slowly gaining popularity here in the US.

“It’s really accelerated dramatically in the last four years,” said former gaming professional, Ellis. “It was a combination of technology, developer, and the right game at the right time, a game called League of Legends…and eSports came out of it.”

Just how big a deal is eSports? In 2013, 32 million viewers tuned in for the League of Legends Season 3 World Championship. The event was held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and sold out in a matter of minutes. It’s kind of a big deal.

So what makes eSports so captivating for viewers? “It starts with the IP community,” said Kuk. “You just need to enjoy the game; if there is a community of enthusiasts that like it and play it, it will be interesting.” But it’s not all just fun and games. Ellis listed all the ways he could make money as a professional gamer including salary, streaming, endorsements, affiliate programs and prize money.

The gamers are not the only ones making money however; “It’s a very interesting market,” said Ellis. “While all these companies are coming into being, they create interesting investment opportunities which then create interesting sponsorship opportunities. With the audience being younger males that spend quite a bit of money, it’s a really good brand advertising audience to get in front of.”

Another aspect of the eSports industry is the increased amount of accessibility. While everyone on the panel paralleled eSports to sports like football, basketball, etc., the ease of access for fans and fellow amateur gamers is a big differentiator. Professional gamers live stream their day-to-day, articulating their strategy and decisions to an online viewing community, allowing viewers to get inside gamers heads and learn. It would be like putting a GoPro on Lebron James at practice.

Ellis described a day in the life as “Snoopeh” as follows: “We had a gaming house, it contained seven people—a manager, support staff, advisors. We would wake up, have breakfast and discuss what we’re going to do that day. And then we practice for an 8 hour block. Three hours of practice, a break, another three hours of practice, a break and then an hour of play analysis. Then we would wind down, but a player’s idea of ‘winding down’ is playing another game.”

Xu claims that eSports hasn’t hit broadcast television yet because of a generational gap. “People want their material on demand. The economics won’t work for a platform that doesn’t have viewership. But it’s still very accessible in that every home has a computer.”

Minors playing games professionally, making millions of dollars, retiring and creating new gaming companies does bring up the issue of regulation. There are players without a significant amount of business experience who have forgone higher education and lawyers, and others taking advantage of these young players, so problems come up all the time. “The current infrastructure, however, is weeding out amateurs and bringing in more business savvy people,” said Ellis.

What is the future of eSports?

• “I see eSports as the next evolution of sports; it will be more culturally relevant to the next generation. It’s a very exciting time to be in the industry but a lot of things still need to be solved.”—Jason Xu
• “Every couple years there will be a shift, there will be new games, titles, etc. Developers are really stretching what can be done in the competitive space.”—James Kuk
• “I’m a huge advocate for the players. I think in five to ten years, gamers could be household names like Lebron James.”—Stephen Ellis
• “There are going to be some really interesting issues that will be tackled as it emerges. I see some parallels to issues that many major sports are currently handling like gambling on sports, etc.”—Bryce BlumBig thank you our host Foster Pepper, panelists and moderator, and attendees for coming out. This concludes our March themed gaming month, stay tuned for more events in April!

 

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To Learn More About eSports, Check Out These Resources:

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