I know I’m not a seasoned writer because I need a strong impetus to get me to pen down what I’m thinking. These thoughts have been brewing ever since our last office party after LCS Wembley when I got to again listen to the stories of some of the incredible Fnatic League of Legends team and their personal stories.
It has been really great to help shape first-hand the direction of, in my opinion, the most influential brand in esports: Fnatic.
This has definitely been said so many times before but because it’s personally pertinent to me, I shall throw my hat in the ring too.
The strong association for competitive gaming to be considered a sport definitely appeals to the young, adrenaline-riled young people that dedicate so much of their time to being the very best at their craft. Not only do games change over time but the way in which a game is played even adjusts based on the updates made by the games publisher. It’s all a lot to take in.
Now that the parallel’s been drawn, the many gaming team-centered organizations have based their model on that of popular sports: football, basketball, tennis, etc.
An insightful article written at the WSJ talked about the depreciating asset worth of football teams in the Premier League and competitive gaming realizes this. If you want your sports franchise to not just be a trophy purchase and provide a real return, they need to win, be incredibly liked and command astronomical market value.
So the solution to your Esports business woes?
Invest more in making your assets highly valued by the rest of the market. Give your players the absolute best training conditions, coaching, motivation until they are able to tap into their inner genius. Build a core squad out of this and accept the highest bid once their value’s vastly increased. Let them flourish and decide what they want to do.
Really there is only one Manchester United, LA Lakers and Canucks (had to). For players inspired by their Management’s decision to invest in them and win, they will want to stay. And they will want to see their values rise even more. Our job is to give them everything they need to win, be loved and be valued. In turn, the team business continues to succeed.
We’ll get there once we realize this. Complexity sold off their entire Call of Duty team to Evil Geniuses. Bravo Complexity. They just get it. I hope those players are worth even more in a year’s time and esports becomes a place where player salaries and earnings warrant being able to compete at the highest level then leave them retiring completely financially free of burden.
And the teams? The best of them will fight to give players more and will honestly profit through their investments.
It’ll happen.