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Elodie Arbey, PNY EMEA Marketing Product Manager, highlights why the latest and greatest tech is needed to help flourish innovation and grow the esports industry.
The UK’s gaming industry is worth an estimated £3.86 billion. Courses and schools that help those who will support this multi-billion-dollar industry in the future are invaluable.
When you hear esports, you may only think of the professional gamers and the big prize money, but the overall picture is much bigger than that. The global esports economy is showing a year-on-year growth of 38 percent to nearly a billion US dollars. Most of this is from sponsorship, advertising, media rights and licensing of content – in other words, the same business model as traditional sports. It’s not just about the players, there are teams of developers, creators, and business managers behind the industry.
Just like football or rugby, esports viewer numbers are exponentially larger than the number of people who actually play. This means that the business side of esports also needs to be nurtured in these learning environments, such as EGS in Bordeaux. When the gamers have the right technology, the games become bigger and better, but that requires management from a strategy perspective.
The industry needs event managers to host these games, marketing managers to help build and sustain the fan base, and streaming experts to allow the phenomenon to grow. Without those additional components, the esports ecosystem would collapse.
So how is the growth of this multi-billion-dollar industry sustained? Like any professional industry or business, it comes down to training, experience and innovation. The foundation of which are the students of today needing to know certain skills and being engrossed in the latest technology so they can become the developers, esports players, or business managers of tomorrow. And of course, all of these skills are transferable. An existing branding expert could easily transfer their knowledge to this industry, and likewise a student training at one of these institutions specifically for the esports sector can transfer what they have learnt to a variety of other industries.
In order to become a pro-gamer, a lot of training is required, often between 6-10 hours per day. Not only do the students need to build up their skills independently, but there also need to be the tools in place that allow trainees to practice playing against others. In addition, they should have access to
demo-viewing sessions where they can watch and analyse pro-gamers.
These gaming schools are all about providing students with the support to achieve their e-sporting goals whilst helping them build the skillset they need for their professional career. The programmes enable them to become the pro-gamers, casters and streamers of tomorrow.
Without the latest and greatest tech, innovation will not flourish, and the growth of the industry won’t be sustained. The schools require the best graphic cards, SSDs and memory modules, as without this advanced equipment, students can’t optimise their gaming performance, thus meaning they won’t progress as quickly.
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