What is an Esports Business?

The flashy parts of esports are the teams themselves, playing high-stakes games with millions of dollars on the line. However, many other businesses surround the tournaments and pro players that gravely impact the scene's ability to be as impressive as it is. Events need running, marketing teams need directors, video games need to be made- think of any vital part of the esports world, and someone needs to be doing it.

Find your passion in the esports world, or find a job hole that needs filling, and you can make yourself quite the lucrative career.

So no, you don't have to start a team to have an esports business (but that is one way to do it).

Why Would You Want To Start One?

The esports industry is a booming, growing world. According to NewZoo, the esports industry is expected to eclipse $1 billion in revenue by 2021. While you might join the esports world because you love it, it's also an excellent opportunity to make money. Gamers heavily support the esports market they love and the prize money is out of this world, so there's always space for new support businesses to help expand the industry.

Where to Begin

Before you start, you have to pick what kind of business you want to go into. Esports events? Management? Team organization? Video game development? There is a wide variety of effective options across the entire industry. Whatever you end up doing is not limited by what's out there; it's just limited by what you want and are capable of accomplishing.

Once you know what you want to do, you have to start with the boring stuff. Register the proper legal business papers, use a logo maker site or designer to create a logo, organize business legalities, etc.

Speaking of...

Focus and Mission Statement

A central part of creating a business is forming your mission statement and goals. To sell your business to sponsors or investors, you have to have a clear focus that is marketable and interesting. In business, it pays to know who you are and what you want.

If you're an event-runner, what kind of events will you hold? Will you make things exciting with laser shows, or do you want to treat the esports business with a modern, professional touch? If you build a team and go the management route, do you want to focus more on being the best and beating everyone or always getting better until you reach the top?

Resources

Once you know where you're going, you have to collect the tools to get it done. Get investors, get a space, download the right organizational or useful apps. It's up to you to make sure you and whatever work team you build are well-prepared for all the hard early work you will be doing. It's fun to focus on the video games you love or having fun geeking out and eating snacks, but unless you're getting your goals accomplished and abiding by your mission statement, your business won't get anywhere.

Early Marketing

In all esports businesses, a significant part of the hustle is marketing. Marketing is so important to get other people interested in your work and often, without investors, a business won't really be going anywhere. In the beginning, you either need to learn to be your own marketer, hire a marketing freelancer, or just bite the bullet and bring a personal, full-time marketer onto the team ASAP. You need someone to get the word out about your business, whether through a website, social media, networking, etc.

Kinds of Esports Businesses

There are a wide variety of businesses needed around the esports world. The most obvious is running an esports organization. That involves pulling together esports players from a variety of games, from League of Legends to CSGO, and making professional team sets that can help build you the greatest esports conglomerate out there.

Other esports businesses include event planners, marketing firms, and even video game developers themselves. After all, an esport game needs to be made before becoming a hit.

Take Riot Games, for example. This one video game company is so enmeshed with their esports scene and the complex game world they've created that they've hired not only developers, but also writers, marketers, designers, and so much more to flesh out their games and lore. Whatever business you make can be so much more complicated and creative than anyone would ever expect, as long as you build it that way.

Esports Conferences

A big part of the esports business is the conferences and events where professionals can network, have esports tournaments, discuss industry development, etc.