How Much Do Players Earn?

According to Bykov, it is difficult to answer, because an esports player is very vague. Go to the Esports Earnings website and look at the breakdown of prize money in the top 100 or top 200 players, and then it will become approximately clear how much esports games players earn.

Dashtoyan said that among Dota players there are about a hundred people who can fully provide for themselves. It's the same in Counter-Strike.

How To Release Your Merch?

According to Dashtoyan, this is difficult to do. Now the law is even more complicated. In the CIS and Europe, there is no special culture of buying merch. And in the USA it is a must-have. Every YouTuber has its line of uniforms. For many teams, merch is a significant source of income. In the US, this is natural - people walk around in baseball caps of their favorite teams in everyday life.

What Should A Game Be Like To Become An Esports Discipline?

Bykov said that for this, firstly, ease of understanding for the viewer is needed - so that a person immediately understands what the goal of the game is. Secondly, the presence of certain eSports features. Thirdly, the game should run on the maximum number of computers so that it is undemanding to the hardware, and it can be played by as many people as possible.

The excessive brutality of the game can prevent it from becoming a serious discipline. For example, at the Olympiad in Korea, there was a StarCraft show match - CS and Dota turned out to be too bloody, so they cannot be shown next to the brand of the Olympiad.

Dashtoyan added that sponsors also pay attention to cruelty. Fantasy violence (like in Fortnite) is fine. Realistic - no.

We always cite Fortnite as an example of family-friendliness - a child can play in the living room, and the parent will not be disturbed by realistic blood on the whole screen. It was one of the components of the popularity of the game.

Mikhail Kuzmin

tinyBuild Marketing Director

Can A Game Become A Discipline Without The Help Of A Developer?

According to Bykov, there are such examples: for example, Smash Bros.

Dashtoyan added that this also applies to CS 1.6. Even now, CS is not as heavily supported as Dota.

Why Didn't the World Of Tanks Become A Discipline?

According to Dashtoyan, in World of Tanks, the main source of income for developers is the sale of cool fancy tanks. But in esports mode, this cannot be done. At the same time, at some point, the developers realized that the eSports mode intercepts players, and they stop buying cool tanks.

Will Esports Be Included In The Olympics?

Bykov recommended reading notes from the Olympic Committee training camp. So far, he is closely following esports, but a full-fledged addition to such a discipline is not yet planned. So far, these are just shown disciplines. The Asian Games are closer to introducing esports and making it a medal discipline.

Dashtoyan believes that the inclusion of cybersport in the list of Olympic disciplines will happen sooner or later, so you should not wait for an official confirmation to start developing in this area.

How Do Teams Exist If They Don't Pay Off?

Bykov said that now investors are investing money for a long time and are looking at a larger scale - 20 years ahead.

According to Dashtoyan, sometimes big companies need esports, not for the sake of money. Now companies have a trend toward ecosystems (like Yandex - taxis, food, services, and so on). It is beneficial for them to have a product that attracts a young audience. The team may not earn, but some products, for example, a subscription, can be offered to its audience.

Will Lol, Dota 2, And Cs:Go Earn Forever?

Bykov said that over time a new audience will come, in comparison with which the audience of old games will seem smaller. But the old loyal audience will not go anywhere - even if they pay attention to new products. For example, in South Korea, 95% of the population of the country, even pensioners, know about StarCraft.

According to Dashtoyan, it is very important to choose a game to which you will devote your time. There are many cases of sports disciplines that took off sharply, and then died off or slowed down a lot. For example, Overwatch has now slowed down a lot.

But this does not threaten the esports mastodons. There is such a rule in the industry: the longer the phenomenon exists, the longer it will live.

Artyom Bykov

General Manager, ESL Gaming

How Does The Day Of An Esports Team Start?

Dashtoyan said that some teams force players to do fitness. But the vast majority of hours the player sits in front of the computer and plays.

Bykov added that the day of an esports team often starts in the evening - they usually play until late. But the most successful cyber teams go in for sports so that they have a good reaction. This is physiology. Plus, many tournaments are a marathon, you need to play for several days from morning to evening. This is very hard for the body, and to be ready for this, you need to do warm-ups and monitor nutrition.

Can Teams Exist Without Sponsors?

According to Dashtoyan, no, you cannot exist without money. You need to understand that if you get something for free, it is somehow funded. All esports are sponsored.

Bykov said that there are disciplines where the publisher pays all the costs for the team (accommodation, flights). In others, the players themselves organize the team without management over them.

Why Are Small Tournaments So Bad?

According to Bykov, small tournaments are less spectacular, but they are of great importance to the ecosystem. They need to do more.

What Jobs Will Be Relevant In Esports In 20 Years?

Bykov said that now one of the most sought-after professions in eSports is brand partnership specialists who can raise money from big brands. In sports, there are huge deals worth millions and billions of dollars. This requires specialists who understand brand partnerships, who have a network of contacts, and who know how to present eSports to large companies. The role of a business manager is in high demand now and will be in demand later.

It is also worth doing marketing management - this issue has already been discussed earlier. The third profession is more visionary - it is the institute for the development of players. In traditional sports, players are raised from childhood. To make the profession of an esports player more recognizable, stable, and understandable, people need to be prepared for it. We need circles and sections.

Now they are not, because they do not bring money. Perhaps they will appear in the future so that schoolchildren know how to turn a hobby into a career. In Korea, this is a little better. The institution of the team is well developed there. You can join a team at the age of 13-14, and they will tell you everything and train you. But there is no earlier stage. Even in Korea, not everything is as good as we would like.

According to Dashtoyan, now the industry needs product owners who will develop interesting products. The necessary minimum in esports teams has already been reached: there are players, they go to tournaments, and they have social networks that make content. By the way, you should not look in the direction of content: there are so many SMM people, producers, and others.

It's better to look the other way: clubs are starting to make their applications - this story comes from traditional sports. They are made by programmers, but there is a product owner who manages the process. Companies are also showing interest in related things - creating streaming platforms or something like that.

Thank you for reading to the end! Please write in the comments what you liked about translating the podcast episode into an article, and in which direction we should move this direction further.