E-Sports (and the gaming industry overall) have been growing in popularity in recent years. In addition to this fact, a wide variety of things have been happening to aid in this potential growth; from Turner Broadcasting deciding to televise select E-Sports events in 2016, to Activision Blizzard creating a new E-Sports division, the world of E-Sports is growing.
EEDAR is a research firm created in 2006 that holds the current title of largest specialty video game research firm in the world. Based in Carlsbad California, EEDAR Leverages an information database of over 100 million data points from more than 92,000 physical and digital video game products such as games, consoles, peripherals and more; according to its website, EEDAR is the sole provider of end-to-end integrated data analysis solutions that allow for the examination of every factor influencing the success of past, present, and future video game titles.
I had the pleasure of gaining the insight of Patrick Walker, EEDAR’s Vice President who gave an unbiased perspective on how the growth of the E-Sports market (and Activision Blizzard’s new division in particular) will affect the Gaming Industry as a whole.
How risky is this venture for Activision? If it were to fail, would it cause a problem for the release of upcoming Activision Blizzard titles?
This is a relatively low risk venture from the perspective of title performance. Most of the risk Activision is taking is in whether they see a return on investment from the cost of creating the division. However, eSports provide a lot of value outside of direct revenue including marketing and consumer engagement, which makes it a relatively low-risk move in general.
We’ve already begun to see companies like Razer and Logitech begin to make peripherals and accessories for the professional gamer; do you think this is something we’ll see more of? Do you think there will be more lines of peripherals and things oriented toward the professional e-sports market?
Absolutely, eSports viewers are attractive to sponsors because they are engaged PC gamers who spends more on hardware and software than the average gamer. This is similar to the highly attractive audience who watches golf on television, as sports networks are able to command a premium for advertising because golf viewers are a high spend audience who are more likely to golf. eSports viewers over-index as passionate gamers with discretionary income who are interested in peripherals. As eSports continues to grow the high end gaming peripheral market will likely continue to grow as well.
I did a piece a week or so ago about Turner Broadcasting planning to broadcast select E-Sports events in 2016; do you think that Activision Blizzard’s new division will contribute to making more E-Sports events televised or available upon a wider market scale?
The hiring of an ex-ESPN executive suggests that making eSports available to a wider market is likely part of the Activision strategy. In the short term this will likely take the form of creating deals with existing television networks and seeking larger corporate sponsors. However, in the long term Activision may seek to create their own viewing platform. There are obvious benefits to controlling more of the eSports supply chain from a revenue and consumer experience perspective so it may be something they explore.
After ESPN President Frank Skinner made his statement about E-Sports not being legitimate sports events dozens of discussions came out about E-Sports garnering interest across a wide array of venues. Do you think that if the current trend of E-Sports popularity grows, we may see E-Sports become main-stream or possibly even Olympic events?
eSports becoming mainstream is different than eSports becoming mainstream as traditional sporting event. All signs point to eSports becoming more and more mainstream. However, this may be as part of the traditional sports ecosystem or it may be as a new type of entertainment, separate from traditional sports.
Lastly, how do you think the popularizing of E-Sports will affect the gaming industry as a whole? With the state of public opinion about gaming being somewhat mixed depending on the region do you think E-Sports will lead to more acceptance and more innovative gaming events?
There has been a rapid expansion in the past several years in the ways gamers are able to interact with content, from content creation and crowd-funding to viewing professionals play their favorite games. The rise of eSports is another part of this broader trend and the role of the broader trend is to make gaming a more mainstream part of society.
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With these questions answered from an industry insider viewpoint; It is clear that the future is bright for E-Sports fans as well as those involved in E-Sports on a professional level.
For those who are interested in learning more about EEDAR and its E-Sports Consumer Report, checking out EEDAR’s official website is advised. The EEDAR Consumer report can be downloaded through their site and offers insight into how E-Sports fans enjoy e-sports content, as well as what games they play; The profile also covers how long they partake in gaming content and e-sports, as well as how they act outside of their E-Sports engagement.
The EEDAR E-Sports Consumer Report is absolutely full of information that will help E-Sports fans be informed on how things are looking in the gaming industry as a whole, as well as within the E-Sports Market.
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