Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | December 10, 2018 | Worcester Business Journal 15 People. Places. Product. Photographic images for advertising, public relations, graphic and corporate communications groups . See the difference. 165 Holly Lane • Holliston, MA 01746 Phone: 774.248.4050 • www.ronbouleyphoto.com R O N B O U L E Y P H O T O G R A P H Y T H E B U S I N E S S O F S P O R T S F O C U S company, Cloud9, which has teams in a range of different games, at $310 million. Eight others were valued at more than $100 million. Teams for League of Legends, a multiplayer battle game, were selling last year for $10 million, according to Sports Business Journal. Technology-driven industry If the fast growth of esports is surprising to the outside world, it hasn't caught off guard those in the industry, said Jurre Pannekeet, a senior market analyst at Newzoo. "We thought this is really going to catch on because it's such a cool phenomenon among gamers, which is such a broad group," he said. Technology has been a main driver, Pannekeet said, allowing players to compete online in a way they wouldn't have been able to in the days of Nintendo and stream their matches for anyone to watch anywhere. ere's a fortune to be made for those who are some of the best in the world at playing video games. A young man known as Ninja, who is famous for playing the shooting game Fortnite, told ESPN in a September interview he makes close to $1 million each month playing the game, with revenue from ads playing while people watch him on the video streaming platform Twitch and from sponsors including Samsung, Red Bull and Uber Eats. In October, Nike announced an endorsement deal with a Chinese player of League of Legends. Parallels between esports players and basketball or football players may seem like a stretch at first, but even training facilities are already a part of the industry. One facility in California, the technology news site VentureBeat reported, being built this year includes not only plenty of computer servers and comfortable seats but also a gym and an on-staff nutritionist and sports psychologist. It's all trickling down to colleges. More than 80 colleges – though Becker is not among them – are now part of the National Association of Collegiate Esports, which includes varsity esports programs with more than 1,500 students. Becker's lead Becker saw itself as a natural fit for esports. Aer all, the college's undergraduate video game design program was ranked by Princeton Review as the fourth best in the nation. "It's part of our DNA," Ritacco said. "Our gaming culture is built around not just creating games but also managing them." Becker's esports leaders said they've had support from the school's administration all along but have had to win over some other skeptics. "Parents think, my son or daughter is going to come and play video games?" Riacco said. "ey're going to come here and be writing games with faculty who've worked in a tier-one industry." In September, Becker became what it says is the first college in Massachusetts to offer scholarships of up to $5,000 per year to varsity esports student-athletes. Still, the esports management program isn't all video game fun. Courses include economics, psychology, marketing, accounting and finance. Becker has been working to attach itself to some big names in the business. e college says it is the first school to partner with Boston- based Gamer Sensei, which calls itself the world's most popular competitive coaching platform. Its esports management advisory board includes, among others, the CEO of the American Video Game League, an esports executive at National Amusements and the owner of the esports team Genji Esports. "We built on many of the relationships that we've fostered over the years, and that got us going with esports," said Tim Loew, the general manager of Becker's varsity esports program. William Collis, the Genji Esports owner and a co-founder of Gamer Sensei, serves on the advisory board and teaches at Becker. He called esports a natural fit at Becker and said the school is fully invested in making the new management program work. "Becker's very much in the lead," Collis said of the school's place in the industry. Loew said Becker has been able to get ahead because it didn't start from scratch. Its video game design program has 600 students, and roughly 100 students participate in esports clubs. Student interest was never a question. Nor, to the program's leaders, was whether students would find jobs in esports. "Not only will they find jobs, but they'll help define what the industry is," said Loew, who is the executive director of the Massachusetts Digital Games Institute, known as MassDiGI and located at the Becker campus. "If I were a student," he said, "I'd find that really exciting." e confidence those at Becker have for its own program might be exceeded only by their faith in esports more broadly. Ritacco has evident excitement about esports' potential and doesn't shy away from big expectations. "is is not going away," he said. "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but this is doing to be bigger than the NFL." Tim Loew, Becker's varsity esports program general manager $1.7 billion in two years Researcher Newzoo projects the esports industry will continue its rapid growth worldwide. *Projected Note: Growth is year-to-year, except 2021, which is projected growth from 2016. Source: Newzoo 0 $500M $1B $1.5B 0 200M 400M 600M 2016 2017 2018 2021* REVENUE AUDIENCE 2016 2017 281M 335M $493M $655M $906M $1.65B 33% 38% 27% % GROWTH 19% 0 $500M $1B $1.5B 0 200M 400M 600M 2016 2017 2018 2021* REVENUE AUDIENCE 2016 2017 2018 2021* 281M 335M 380M 557M $493M $655M $906M $1.65B 33% 38% 27% % GROWTH % GROWTH 19% 13% 14% More than half a billion people will watch esports By 2021, the global audience of the esports industry will be larger than the U.S. population, 325 million. *Projected Note: Growth is year-to-year, except 2021, which is projected growth from 2016. Revenue includes media rights, advertising, sponsorships, tickets and merchandise. Source: Newzoo W

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