Beyond the hype of $30m prizes for playing Fortnite, esports superstars

Beyond the hype of $30m prizes for playing Fortnite, esports superstars are a beacon of integrity for a generation that needs more role models...

Tej Kohli | 31 July 2019

In 1957 a top England soccer player would have earned £1,677 a year in wages, bonuses and international match fees, which is equivalent to that of a doctor or senior manager in today’s money. In the United States the average (American) Page | 1 Tej Kohli is a technologist and investor who is also the founder of the not-for-profit Tej Kohli Foundation. Tej Kohli regularly writes #TejTalks blogs on Medium about subjects including blindness, inequality, poverty, global health and technology transfer. Tej Kohli also blogs on Ghost and The Motley Fool about subjects including real estate, cryptocurrency, deep tech and stock market investing. Tej Kohli also shares his daily wisdom, commentary and insights on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook as @MrTejKohli. #TejTalks can be downloaded from Issuu.

football players’ salary in 1969 was $25,000, which is equivalent to around $160k today. Team sports transcended politics and nations and were an opportunity for role-model players to imprint important values such as integrity, teamwork, sportsmanship and good conduct onto impressionable young fans.

Fast forward to the professional soccer and football of today, and players can expect to earn tens of millions in wages and equivalent amounts in commercial sponsorships, thanks to a process of mass commercialisation that started in earnest in the 1980s. But many perceive that this commercialisation was accompanied by a degradation in the integrity and values of the sports, with some players behaving poorly despite being role models to millions of fans.

Today it is esports that is growing and professionalising, with hundreds of millions of dollars in prizes and sponsorship pouring in. The headline numbers are often quoted: According to a Goldman Sachs Investment Report, esports will grow to 300 million global viewers by 2022, but with plenty more room to grow beyond.

The global online population is 3.65 billion people, of which 2.2 billion are gamers, meaning that esports viewers currently represent just 5% of the potential addressable market.

It’s important not to place too much weight on these numbers, especially for a sector that is generating a lot of hype as it evolves and professionalises so quickly.

But I do believe that global esports viewership will soon surpass one billion global viewers, which is why I invested €50m into Rewired.GG, an esports venture fund, which in December 2018 made a €20m investment into Team Vitality, Europe’s leading esports team. We are now building Team Vitality into a $1 billion global brand.

Page | 2 Tej Kohli is a technologist and investor who is also the founder of the not-for-profit Tej Kohli Foundation. Tej Kohli regularly writes #TejTalks blogs on Medium about subjects including blindness, inequality, poverty, global health and technology transfer. Tej Kohli also blogs on Ghost and The Motley Fool about subjects including real estate, cryptocurrency, deep tech and stock market investing. Tej Kohli also shares his daily wisdom, commentary and insights on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook as @MrTejKohli. #TejTalks can be downloaded from Issuu.

But these big numbers can sometimes disguise a more important cultural dynamic that esports can claim credit for. Those hundreds of millions, and soon to be billions, of largely ‘Generation Z’ esports fans and viewers aren’t just future consumers, they’re also the citizens and leaders of tomorrow. And esports is engendering them with the kind of values that will help this generation to collectively build a better world.

Integrity, teamwork, dedication, sportsmanship, good conduct: these are not just esports values, they are important life values too. Esports players in teams like Team Vitality aren’t just a new generation of superstars, they’re important role models for young people in a world that can too often seem chaotic and hopeless to a generation who will inherit and have to deal with substantial demographic, social and economic challenges. The value of the esports players as a beacon of integrity to this generation should not be underestimated.

Strangers to esports might be surprised by the level of dedication that is required to become a professional esports team player. Intense physical training is accompanied by thousands of hours of team practice as well as nutrition and psychological preparation. And in teams like Team Vitality, players aren't allowed to neglect their education: they have to continue their schooling and then continue with higher education even as they ascend into global stardom.

And Esports is more democratic than most sport. It is open to anyone with the will and the determination to become a professional. If you meet any Team Vitality players, you’ll discover good guys with a great sense of humour. They play hard, and they train hard too.

The integrity of this new generation of role model superstars hasn’t gone unnoticed. The combination of huge audiences with players who take their role Page | 3 Tej Kohli is a technologist and investor who is also the founder of the not-for-profit Tej Kohli Foundation. Tej Kohli regularly writes #TejTalks blogs on Medium about subjects including blindness, inequality, poverty, global health and technology transfer. Tej Kohli also blogs on Ghost and The Motley Fool about subjects including real estate, cryptocurrency, deep tech and stock market investing. Tej Kohli also shares his daily wisdom, commentary and insights on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook as @MrTejKohli. #TejTalks can be downloaded from Issuu.

model responsibilities seriously is proving a delicious proposition for sponsors.

Goldman Sachs estimates that esports monetisation including sponsorship will reach $3 billion by 2022.

There’s been a huge cultural shift globally, and esports now has great potential to be a powerful force for good in the world. Take India as a case example: 80% of esports is mobile based, and the newly expanded mobile spectrum combined with the launch of affordable smart phones, means that esports players now have the bandwidth and the processing power to compete. As prize funds grow, the draw of esports in India is strong and the barriers to participation are low. So Esports is becoming a great catalyst for bringing the global community closer together regardless of background, in the spirit of competition.

And if esports brings the world closer together around the values of integrity, teamwork, sportsmanship and good conduct – then the world will be all the better for it. https://www.tejkohli.com #TejTalks

Page | 4 Tej Kohli is a technologist and investor who is also the founder of the not-for-profit Tej Kohli Foundation. Tej Kohli regularly writes #TejTalks blogs on Medium about subjects including blindness, inequality, poverty, global health and technology transfer. Tej Kohli also blogs on Ghost and The Motley Fool about subjects including real estate, cryptocurrency, deep tech and stock market investing. Tej Kohli also shares his daily wisdom, commentary and insights on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook as @MrTejKohli. #TejTalks can be downloaded from Issuu.