On October 2019 I joined EXCEL ESPORTS as their CEO. Exactly 5 years before that day (2014), I started as the CEO of another storied esports organisation, Fnatic. My 8 years across these two competitive businesses gave me a tremendous opportunity to be involved and learn about all the ins and outs of esports. Following many panels, presentations, Q&As, and discussions, I have summarised my view into ‘the 5Ps of esports’. These 5Ps do not apply just to esports teams, they apply to any business with a community and brand at the core of its existence.

The original article was posted on my LinkedIn in November 2020.

Where it all started

I will start by saying that I don’t like the word esports, at all. We are not an electronic version of sports. It is gaming, competitive gaming. Any reference to the universe of sports goes in equal terms to the universe of music and pop culture, such as publishers, talent, ‘electronic’ and live events. In fact, by referring ourselves to ‘esports’ I believe that many miss the mark on the benefits that competitive gaming takes from both universes: amazing competitions in great stadiums as well as all the diversity in styles in the ever-evolving culture of music.

Competitive gaming is a culture and universe of its own. We have only seen its early beginnings. Many refer to the earliest known video game competition as an event that took place on 19 October 1972 at Stanford University for the game Spacewar! I will however take the starting point towards the early 80’s with the Space Invaders Championship held by Atari in 1980 and the first televised gaming competitions such as BBC’s game show First Class in the eighties. What separates ‘competitive esports’ from casual gaming is viewership (good to point out since many use the word esports for anything gaming nowadays).

Passion (80s onwards)

My 5P’s starts with the P of Passion, where all new life starts after all. For long, competitive gaming has been nothing but an immense Passion for many. Many of us will have read the stories of the first organised competitive LAN events. In my own experience, the stories of the still so many present ‘Founders (or Godfathers) of Esports’ speak of true passion. There was simply nothing to gain but pride and fame. Passions that started in bedrooms and basements rather than garages. All of them had a great vision of what this could become. Most have left the scene as after all this is evolution and not disruption (what is there to disrupt anyway if it’s our own ecosystem in the making). Yet, few have lasted until now and Passion is what keeps us going, whether we are from the Boom or Zoom generation.

Professionalism (mid to late 90s)

At a certain time in the mid-to-late nineties, we see ‘event organisers’ arising that set up tournaments, leagues and other competitions in a repetitive format. Rules come into play to create better competitive integrity. Sponsors come onboard and players get actual contracts (for the better or worse at times). From here on, the passion actually turns into a job, with expectations from others we now need to oblige to. For the next 20 years (yes, that long), ‘being professional’ is a phrase that will help you define yourself from another, in an industry that’s largely being described as the wild west by those who struggle to grasp the dynamics of competitive gaming. My 2nd P is the P of Professionalism and It took a while to overcome this stage, and it’s still prevalent for many. In fact, not surprisingly it was in this time that the word esports was introduced. According to the Online Gamers Association (OGA), the first recorded instance of the term was “eSports” in a 1999 press release. It was eSports and not esports (which we now all agree on). Another unwanted result, in my view, is the sense to be recognised by professional sports bodies and a seat in the IOC. To be clear, we certainly need and want an ever evolving regulation of our competition and industry, and representative bodies, but it should come for ourselves and not other universes.

That being said, of course it was the word esports that helped us to explain that actually we are all professionals and work extremely hard in-game and out-of-game.

Power Brands (ca. 2010 onwards)

My own journey in esports started at this time (2014). However, this stage started with Twitch (2011). Twitch did a lot, like, really a lot. If you want to search, you Google. If you want to buy something on the internet, you check on Amazon. If you want to watch a game stream, and now nearly any stream, you simply go to Twitch. We all know it, yet we tend to forget how much we owe to this gaming endemic platform that isn’t actually a game. It allowed certain teams and other brands in esports to substantially grow on the back of the immense rise in viewership. It’s here that fans turned into viewers, and viewers into digital eyeballs to the point that many did see large numbers but had no clue about the passion and diversity that makes up all of competitive gaming.

Gaining millions in fans, followers and viewers, the brands became bigger than the talent, or at times even bigger than the game itself. We may question the team valuations that grew on a similar logarithmic scale, if we follow the not so distant from reality Forbes reporting for a moment. However, having a brand that sustains the dynamics of esports, the biggest talents, the fall and rise of games, is something which is very rare. And thus valuable in an industry full of opportunities for decades to come. From here on, esports is adopting pop culture to its professional competitions and talent. Content creators become influential with their own huge following. We bring in influencers and celebrities, often from other industries, to now gain authority on the ‘Power Brand’ ladder. Power Brands ‘drop’ anything and fans will buy it. Where before we had to ask and pay for a selfie with the sports or music celebs, they’re now lining up to have a selfie with gaming pros and famed esports founders.

Yet, also from here on, I believe many are stuck for what’s next. Of course, we want to perform at our very best but that’s something that will never change with the passion for gaming. I’ve heard many people say they want to’ be cool’, ‘lifestyle’, ‘media’, ‘entertainment’, ‘drop this’ and ‘drop that’ or simply ‘be like Fnatic or FazeClan’ (and no doubt soon like EXCEL). We speak of a lack of identity but that’s not it, identity is something that develops throughout each stage in existence in a similar sense as quality does.

What’s really missing, in my view, is for many to finally let go of what we’re used to or being told to do because it’s successful in another universe. To create our own performance structure, our own belief of what’s good and relevant and eventually what’s our purpose beyond the ‘next lifestyle drop’ and ‘record-breaking’ numbers that compete with sports.

Purpose (2020 onwards)

When I moved as CEO from one team to another, I labelled it as ‘same job, different challenge’. I challenge myself to think further than others do and I realised that many have no real idea about what could be next in the evolution of our industry. People struggle to realise what’s beyond achieving Power Brand status. Whilst it seems so evident (winning, likes, eyeballs, data, filled stadiums, revenues, community, etc.), we need to look beyond the passion, the performance, our power status, and the further application beyond the game.

My firm belief is that for many of us in this industry to remain viable and have a long life ahead, a much better sense of Purpose is needed, to finally shed any doubts about our capabilities, what we can achieve and the positive impact we can make through competitive gaming. Purpose is not the same as choosing an identity or choosing the dark side versus the bright side, to buy fast cars of your prize money or to wear a slick Gucci outfit. Purpose is not about buying ourselves good karma either. It’s a fundamental principle that everything we do has a sense of purpose for something bigger, too. Purpose comes from challenging ourselves in our biggest passion, every day. Challenging others, challenging dogmas, and by getting the very best out of ourselves. And, using that as an inspiration for the other things we care about.

At EXCEL, we have formulated our shared passion and purpose into The Power Of Better which we have taking a first step with 12th November 2020:

Profit (now!)

My 5th and final one is the P of Profit to stay with the sequence of the P's. A better word for this stage is actually Matureness. This stage is not completed by achieving the first 4Ps. This stage is simply completed by a fully developed ecosystem of its own. It’s the much-needed infrastructure to expand our own universe. Whether these are content platforms, ecommerce & retail, or data platforms and metrics. It is the backbone we need for our own expansion that’s not misguided by misunderstandings.

I have visualised that in the following slide, keeping a reference to our ever-growing universe, I picture it in 3 levels of the core, the very large middle and the peripheral. The core is where a lot of the further development of esports has started: the game developers, the teams, the leagues and content creators. Then come all the players from top to bottom, the fans and those supporting connection and engagement including behemoth Twitch. In the growing peripheral are the, for example, sponsor brands, service agencies and data suppliers, but also governmental bodies, associations and capital providers like Bitkraft who invest heavily in new solutions for our industry.

Whilst some of us are profitable, and maybe some others are not, until this point we’re heavily buidling and scaling and that requires capital. It’s not until recently that we have seen purpose-built venues, performance coaches specific for gaming, relevant metrics for viewership, etc. It’s great to see all the services, applications, products, agencies etc coming up and growing that have been built up from the ground up in our industry. All of which is in fast paced evolution, yet not in full maturity yet.

When we get rid of 'esports' and things will be 'competitive gaming' again

I’ve been asked the question many times ‘when esports overtakes sports’. The question is not relevant. People don’t ask when music overtakes sports. Or when gaming will overtake music. I’m also not in the slightest bit disappointed that the IOC does not recognise esports. Who cares? We’re neither disrupting anything. We’re simply on a very fast paced evolution of a universe that includes top competition, culture and passion for all. In a ‘digital native’ but also a growing (non-COVID) physical world.

I do however think we will reach matureness when our ecosystem is developed such that as a whole, we become ‘profitable’. And when we’re finally proud enough to say that we work in competitive gaming rather than esports.