re:Think Games — May 25, 20 Esports Industry Observations
I have spent a fair amount of time, writing about games and how to think of them. Eventually, I plan to go more in-depth on each game, but for now, let me continue to build “context”.
Industries are made of people, people grouped into different organizations. Let’s take a look at the myriad of organizations that now participate in esports.
- Video game publishers.
- Professional esports teams.
- Professional Esport team owners.
- Streaming Companies.
- Sponsors.
- Traditional Media companies.
- Conferences.
- Players.
- The audience.
- Tournaments, Conventions (Cons), and tournament production companies.
- Arenas.
- Private LAN Centers.
- The Colleges and Universities.
- High Schools.
- Parks and Recreation Departments.
Is it any wonder people find this confusing? I sorted this list in a specific way, because it focuses on both revenue, and influence. And I think it’s time we take a look at the video game publishers.
No one company can own “football” the sport, or baseball for that matter. At each level, the entity responsible for establishing organized competition “owns” their version of the game. The NFL rules differ from NCAA rules, which differ from highschool rules. But the sport is generally available to all. With video games, the company that owns the rights to publish the video game effectively owns and controls the game, and therefore the sport.
As far as I am aware, this ownership of the underlying competition platform is unique in human history. Never before has anything with such global appeal been controlled by so few people.
Because of my background in video game development, I do want to comment on the difference between developers and publishers. Most people would never confuse an author with their publisher or a musician with their record label. I don’t buy Sony Music records (although technically I do). I buy the music of artists who happen to be published on the Sony Record Label. However, I do buy software from companies (like Adobe, Slack, or Zoom). Video games are this strange blend of entertainment and software development. It is entirely in the publishers’ interest to “own” the game. However, it can be very difficult to separate the talent from the creative process as Activision found out when they bought RedOctane in 2006[1] in order to get integrate Guitar Hero into their offering. Red Octane “produced” the video game, but Harmonix developed it. Activision was forced to put their top developers Neversoft onto the game while Harmonix signed a contract with EA to create a competing product, Rock Band.[2]
I lived through a similar transition when THQ acquired Rainbow Studios to get access to the team that created ATV Offroad Fury. Our team started working on MX Unleashed, while Sony was forced to find another developer for their ATV Franchise. Managing the creative process has never been easy at the best of times. However it is hard to imagine any Google or Microsoft product being tied to a single team, or even a single individual. They seem to be able to switch teams and move forward. In video games, losing a developer can destroy a franchise. Sony never made ATV Offroad Fury 4.
It is interesting that the history of DOTA can be tied back to a single brilliant designer. Minecraft in comparison is still famously tied to “Notch” (Markus Alexej Persson, from Stockholm, Sweden) the games brilliant creator.[3]
I bring all of this up because the success of a franchise can depend enormously upon the people who develop it. Over the next few weeks, I will start digging deeper into the publishers, but also what I can find out about their developers. The connections and backgrounds between them should start to give you a better understanding of the complexities of the industry. At times I have pointed out some of the shortcomings of traditional sports, but one thing I do admire about them is they are much easier to understand than the mosh pit that is the modern video game industry.