Thinking Esports: Thoughts from ESI Digital Summit’s THINK, pt. IV
(This is the fourth entry in a five-part series covering topics addressed during the two-day ESI Digital Summit’s THINK track, taken place on May 26–27, 2020. Read parts one, two, three, and five.)
Rounding out the final panels of the THINK Track and ending Day Two of the summit, the panelists and moderators offered inside looks not often popping up in #esports — the industry’s influence on music, education, and collegiate sports. Plenty of talk of partnerships and numbers flood the hashtag, but developments around the collegiate esports scene are either drowned out by more “engaging” content, or not shared at all. But there are large developments happening behind the scenes in each of these respective categories, and each aspect contributes to the industry as a whole, especially given that a large chunk of the audience is the university-aged segment.
Given that academics and collegiate esports programs haven garnished the attention that the professional and business sides have garnished mostly has to do with lack of funding and marketing — however there’s many organizers in the space wanting to change that. Music is as endemic to gaming and esports as it is to sports and other visual media, but the collaborations have to make sense. While everyone pays attention to the big money activations of musical talents in the industry, there’s plenty happening below the mainstream radar — engaging smaller audiences in meaningful relationships to both titles and artists in the form of content.
Later this week, I’ll publish my whopping synopsis of the trends, insights, and predictions gathered from the summit and my calls with the moderators and panelists of where the industry could be heading in the near future.
Topics covered in this entry:
💭 Esports as the Game-Changer for Academic Education
💭 The Future of Collegiate Esports — A New Frontier for Education
💭 Esports and Music — The Sound of Success?
Esports as the game-changer for academic education
Moderator:
Rachel Gowers, Director • Staffordshire University London
Speakers:
Dr Bobbie Fletcher, Head of Department for Games and Visual Effects • Staffordshire University
James Fraser-Murison, Director of Learning / Esports Teacher • Queen Mary’s College
Josh Williams, Founder & MD • The NUEL
With the growing popularity of the industry, coupled with gaming’s decades old endemic presence on campuses, it follows that universities would wizen up and offer a new product their student base might be interested in.
Mirroring the rise of academic video game design programs over the last 15 years, esports university degrees are aiming to combine multi disciplined programs with industry specific skills. Cross-industry skills such as broadcasting, video production, event management are paired with content creation, work experiences, and tournament training opportunities catered to esports. Degrees vary by university as well as course and focuses, many focusing on business, team management, and entrepreneurship.
Josh Williams, Founder & MD of The NUEL, shared The NUEL’s startup story: gamers frustrated that their universities hadn’t sanctioned their passions to engage with and get involved with at their school. The National University Esports League, or NUEL, seeks to offer participants real experiences with the industry and close to a grassroots environment while offering opportunities for esports to expand within the UK and beyond. Community, content creation, and professional experience are all aspects that esports has grown into — and NUEL offers these to both participants and professional partners. Education is the name of the game for NUEL, done through direct involvement in the scene.
Recently facing criticism on social media, Dr. Bobbie Fletcher, Head of Department for Games and Visual Effects at Staffordshire University, was quick to course-correct from a tweet the university sent out earlier claiming that in the future an esports degree would be necessary to enter the industry — this is not the case, Dr. Fletcher asserts. With the growing popularity of the industry, coupled with gaming’s decades old endemic presence on campuses, it follows that universities would wizen up and offer a new product their student base might be interested in.
Dr. Fletcher also explored what the SU’s original esports class resembled in 2018, as a final year course on their gaming design track. A smorgasbord of skills were highlighted, all designed to be relevant to esports as well as transferable skills to other industries, such as: content creation, analytics, gaming cultures, team building, regulations & risk, et cetera. The goal behind the class was to prepare students for work, esports industry or not, and to give an idea of what professional work entails.
James Fraser-Murison, Director of Learning & Esports Teacher at Queen Mary’s College, explained that the esports courses at QMC are designed to have employer engagement in mind, like other vocational courses, offering students attention and guidance from professionals in the industry. A common suggestion around the industry, repeated by James, is to make use of LinkedIn for more exposure in the industry at large outside of the potential from the course. Their esports degree program aims to be versatile, letting students join a company, continuing further study or choosing a different path upon completion. Entirely new programs are being developed across the country to meet the demands for experienced and educated professionals to power the esports machine.
The future of Collegiate esports — A new frontier for education
Moderator:
Caz Lacey, Executive Search, Global Head of Esports and Video Games • CAA
Speakers:
Eric Johnson, CEO • EGF
Chris Buckner, Co-Founder and CEO • Mainline
Neil Duffy, Chief Commercial Officer • Collegiate StarLeague
Victoria Horsley, President • Unified Collegiate Esports Association
Given that many other student athletes are able to attend colleges via scholarships awarded by their out-of-class performances, it’s only been very recently that excelling in gaming could net a student a scholarship.
Competitive sports and video games are two fundamental pillars that university experiences have been built upon, however, only one of those has been officially sanctioned for over a century. But collegiate esports programs are on the rise across campuses. Given that many other student athletes are able to attend colleges via scholarships awarded by their out-of-class performances, it’s only been very recently that excelling in gaming could net a student a scholarship. Along with the adoption of curriculum programs, colleges are just beginning to navigate avenues to allow their students to represent institutions on virtual and global battlegrounds.
Riddled with nuanced issues, in the same shades of those dotting traditional amateur sports, player-likeness monetization, personal brand management, and sponsorships/endorsements, et cetera, amateur leagues are hardly plug-and-play. Universities are hardly qualified to understand these ins-and-out of a brand new sport and related industry. On a videocall, Eric Johnson, CEO of EGF, explained his experience of helping administrators grasp how collegiate esports can help universities combat their drop-out rate, among its many other potential benefits. Campuses often feature already baked-in organic gaming-interest groups, but outside of clubs, gamers are neglected in ways to represent their university via their passion. Eric also brought the actioning potential of alumni. Alumni are huge drivers of university activities, and offerine esports opportunities for alumni to support will only bolster the programs and grow the audience for the future.
Esports is nowhere near immune to equality issues the world-at-large is rife with, but esports can represent a gender-inclusive sporting experience on college campuses. Victoria Horsley, President of Unified Collegiate Esports Association, shared her observation that female-identifying esports enthusiasts are often participating in collegiate esports in management roles where they can happily avoid the toxicity associated with competitive gaming. These types of opportunities can help the overall esports culture grow to be more inclusive, by having different roles and responsibilities, chances are that a more diverse cast will be interested to play.
Chris Buckner, Co-Founder/CEO of Mainline, shared that since the pandemic, he’s been taking calls from universities around the globe eager to learn more about introducing collegiate esports programs to their student bodies. Mainline’s offices are even subsidized by a Texas University in exchange for helping them develop their prospective esports major and minor academic programs. Esports tournament structure is on a completely different level compared to traditional sports, new games are introduced constantly and tournament formats have to adjust. Collegiate esports needs to be a dedicated program across many colleges before the scene really can kick off.
But many schools are not ready, or have not yet been approached, to take the plunge into instituting varsity level commitments, explains Neil Duffy, CCO of Collegiate StarLeague, leaving team organization responsibilities to volunteer faculty and students. If university teams want to be involved in many “varsity” esports circuits — which then allows students improved access to the professional scene — their universities need to give them varsity level resources to compete with. The “path to pro” narrative gaining access to university endorsement will raise all ships in terms of growth and professional potential. Having a banner to rally under is a must for any collective effort and in response to the speed 2020 is witnessing changes, esports could be the savior of school spirit lost from students losing their campus lifestyles.
Esports and Music — the sound of success?
Moderator:
M Darren Traub, Partner • Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
Speakers:
Ryan Ruden, SVP, Experiential Marketing and Business Development • Columbia Records
Erik Anderson, Head of Esports • FaZe Clan
Andre Allen Anjos, Artist • RAC
Sarina Larson, Consultant and CEO • Music x Gaming Consultant + Merch Roadie
While organizations are always interested in sponsorship and investments, if the partnership doesn’t make sense for the audience, that will damage the reputation of the union.
Audible entertainment is a unique media in the human experience, possible to consume by itself in a vacuum, or as an augment to other experiences, such as a soundtrack to a morning routine, or a companion on a long trip. Gaming and music have been stitched together in curious native ways, from gaming studios creating their own soundtracks, mainstream artists being featured in-game compilations, to now in the mainstream gaming being regularly referenced in music.
Andre Allen Anjos, Artist also known as RAC, expressed how fans of gaming are the perfect audience for an artist because they are so dedicated and engaged in their chosen media. Andre gets comments on his YouTube everyday of “who’s here from FIFA 16?” a title his music was featured on. Video games have long offered a profound opportunity for music discovery for gamers, studios, and artists, Andre acknowledges the artists he discovered from playing games like Wipeout, exploring the game’s catalogue to discover new artists. Relationships between gamers and media can last a lifetime — exactly the type of relationships artists are hoping to achieve with their audiences.
FaZe Clan has always blurred the line between gaming, esports, lifestyle, and music with its content offerings, supporters, and brand identity for over a decade. Erik Anderson, Head of Esports of FaZe Clan, surmises that a large portion of FaZe’s audience identify with the brand’s content due to shared interests between artists, musicians, creators, and athletes across respective works. Connecting over games, sports, music, or content all provided under the banner of FaZe Clan makes the organization what it is today. However, even though FaZe commands the highest engagement and following across socials compared to other top-tier esports organizations, it pales in comparison to metrics that performing musical artists command. This comes as no surprise to anyone, given how young the industry is, but still is a healthy reminder of where even industry giants place in the great scheme of digital entertainment.
Music and esports audiences are just as complimentary as the music and sports audiences, music and anthems play a big role in the branding of organizations and live experiences. On a videocall, Ryan Ruden, SVP of Experiential Marketing and Business Development at Columbia Records, illustrated that pairing music into gaming and esports is not a slam-dunk every time. The esports audience is so smart and so observant that any attempt in pairing the two must be authentic, cannot resemble a forced action and must be beneficial for all parties. If artists and esports-related entities follow eachother on social media, for example, this already hints that a collaboration could be a fit. While a gaming and esports audience may have diverse musical tastes, they don’t want inauthenticity in their soundtracks, this reflects across the board of successful collaborations across the space. Most importantly of all, Ryan asserted that both gaming and music drive culture and social in a symbiotic multi-media relationship.
On a videocall, M Darren Traub, Partner at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, mirrored Ryan’s sentiment about the esports audience’s low-tolerance of inauthentic entries into the space. Similar to brands and companies wanting to enter esports, artists need an authentic link before putting their name or logo in the arena. If a musician is interested in esports from an investment standpoint, the match has to be there. While organizations are always interested in sponsorship and investments, if the partnership doesn’t make sense for the audience, that will damage the reputation of the union. Combing the authenticity hairline is the playground of many veterans in the industry.
In terms of revenue where both industries have a similar stake, the live event aspect of shows and tournaments respectively are on ice for what will likely be most of the rest of the year. Esports’ contingency plan is further thinking than the music industry’s, points out Sarina Larson, Consultant/CEO at Merch Roadie. “Taking the show on the road” is a large aspect of the experience of both industries and keeps fans coming back. However, in the current climate where no one is taking anything on the road, musical artists have been fortunate to lean on esports and gaming entities to maintain their relevancy. Exceeding fan expectations thanks to platforms like Twitch and in-game activations like in Fortnite, esports experiences are showing up to the aid of many unrelated industries showing their potential and forward-thinking.
