What are eSports? Well, you’ve played games. You want to win. What if you can win thousands – or millions – through playing? Then you’d practice until you got very good. And others would want to watch them playing it so well. *talk at NEXT15*

1. ESPORTS
THE SPORT OF THE DIGITAL GENERATION

2. BEFORE ESL, YOU PLAYED AT LOCAL LAN PARTIES
LAN PARTIES
LAN Parties were the (only) place to play and watch esports.
There was no real prize money involved.

3. ESL CREATED A PLATFORM FOR ESPORTS ENTHUSIASTS
LIVE EVENTS
Live viewership was small. If 50
players competed there was
usually a maximum of 50
spectators (1:1).
STREAMING
Proprietary technology, capped at
256 slots, sold to the highest
bidder like an eBay auction.
Attendees of the 1981 Space
Invaders Championship
attempt to set the highest
score.
ONLINE PLAY
It was hard to compete online
because not everyone had (good)
access to the internet (DSL).
The first tournaments were
not streamed directly, it took
years to reach people online
and attract fans in large
numbers to venues.

4. LIVE ESL EVENT COVERAGE YEARS AGO

5. A PILLAR OF ESPORTS SINCE 2000
2000
Founded Turtle
Entertainment
-------------
Electronics
Sports League
launch
Release:
Electronic
Sports League
2.0 Release
2001
100,000
ESL Members
2002
ESL Pro Series
launch
------------
First esports
event at CeBit
2008
2,000,000
ESL Members
Opening of
Chinese office
-------------
Intel Extreme
Masters with
first events in
USA, Dubai,
South-Korea
2006
1,000,000
ESL Members
Launch of Intel
Extreme
Masters
------------
Acquisition of
German TV
station GIGA TV
------------
Launch of first
stream-only TV
station GIGA2
2004
First-time ESL
Arena at Games
Convention
-------------
New countries:
Austria &
Switzerland
2003
ESL TV launch
-------------
First
international
expansion to
France
2005
ESL Playercard
release
-------------
ESL Anti-Cheat
release
-------------
New countries:
Bulgaria & Italy
2007
New countries:
ESL Spain &
Romania
------------
First
international
Intel Extreme
Masters Events
in Moscow,
Stockholm and
Paris
2009
First time
awarded more
than 1,000,000
prize money a
year

6. INTERNET AND SOCIAL MEDIA ARE PART OF OUR EVERYDAY LIVES
Almost everyone in the world has
access to the internet.
Social Media has made communication
with our fans easier.
THE WORLD WIDE WEB OPENED DOORS

7. BETWEEN 2009 AND 2011 ESPORTS REACHED CRITICAL MASS
Twitch built a streaming platform that
opened doors for gamers and
organizers.
Free to Play games entered the gaming
arena and opened new opportunities
for competitive gaming.
TIPPING POINT: ESPORTS REACHING CRITICAL MASS

8. WE CREATE LEGENDARY MOMENTS

9. In the weekend of 22nd and 23rd of August 2015 there were 4 stadium events at the same time,
breaking streaming records on Twitch (2m concurrent viewers).
ESPORTS NOW FILLS STADIUMS ALL OVER THE WORLD

10. GLOBAL FANDOM /
VIEWERBASE WILL CONTINUE TO
GROW
MORE MASSIVE GLOBAL
ESPORTS EVENTS
FURTHER DEVELOPMENT
OF ESPORTS GAMES
* Newzoo report 2015
Esports Enthusiasts in 2017: 145M
WHATS NEXT

11. MAIN STREAM MEDIA WILL BE INVOLVED
MORE IN ESPORTS
MAIN STREAM MEDIA AND ESPORTS

12. THE QUESTION IS NOT ‘IF’
BUT ‘WHEN’
ESPORTS BECOME SPORTS

13. THANK YOU