Category: Esports

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Held each year, the League of Legends World Championship, better known as Worlds, is the pinnacle of esports competition. Teams from twelve different regions compete over the course of the year for an opportunity to represent their region, and a chance to hoist the Summoner’s Cup. This year, Worlds has taken place in a bubble system in Shanghai, and even plans to have an audience for its finals at Pudong Soccer Stadium, which seats over 33,000 attendants.

A common theme of Worlds each year is the performance of North American teams – teams representing the LCS on the global stage. Though a team from Asia has won Worlds each year since 2012, Western teams have made deep runs in the past. European teams have made the finals multiple times, and Cloud 9 of the LCS made it to the semifinals in 2018.

However, in recent years, North America has struggled to make a dent at Worlds. Cloud 9 is the only NA esports team to make it to the top eight since 2014. In both 2019 and 2020, no North American team made it out of the group stage, failing to qualify as a top eight team. This year, TSM, the top team of the LCS, failed to win a single game at Worlds. Frustrated by their region’s inability to perform, LCS fans have clamored for players and coaches to be fired, and for esports teams to be restructured. Fans blame North America’s talent pool and lack of infrastructure for its poor showings.

Talent Pool

North America’s talent pool is smaller than any of the other major regions: China, Korea, and Europe. Though not an official representation of the sizes of player bases (this information is private), many look at the size of the ranked population for each major region to assess player base. Ranked, the competitive mode of League of Legends where players compete on a competitive ladder, serves as a proxy for how many gamers actively look to better their rank in League of Legends.

 

According to studies posted on Reddit through the use of OP.GG, an online platform that uses Riot’s official API, Korea has the largest ranked player base at roughly 3 million, compared to Europe’s 2.6 million and North America’s 1.6 million. Tracking Chinese data is quite difficult, but China itself supports fourteen different servers, suggesting populations much larger. Despite the US and Canada having a total population reaching 360 million, North America’s ranked population is significantly smaller than Korea’s. Due to this lack of natural born talent, teams have resorted to importing players from other regions. Of the fifteen players that represented the LCS at Worlds this year, only six were NA residents.

 

Importing is not inherently bad – Chinese teams have imported Korean players for years and have won multiple championships. However, this Korean talent is used more to augment Chinese talent than to replace it. New, native talent is constantly feeding into Chinese League of Legends. However, this is not true in the LCS. The annual “Rookie of the Year” award often only has one or two new players to choose from, despite there being fifty starting players competing in the LCS each year. Too much importing has led to a drought of NA native talent.

Infrastructure

The lack of new NA talent is partly derived from the lack of amateur systems to support new talent on the path to pro. Riot’s regulations on who can run League of Legends tournaments prohibits most tournament organizers from hosting amateur tournaments. Small events, supplemented by prize pools, provide supplemental income and a platform for new talent to prove itself.

Riot has proven capable of creating supplemental leagues in other regions, most notably its European Masters league. These smaller European leagues filter into a larger, European circuit, which itself serves as a secondary league to the LEC, Europe’s top League of Legends competition. By creating seven smaller, country/region based leagues in Europe, European organizations are incentivized to create teams and foster new talent development.

North America has two systems to foster new talent growth – the Academy league and collegiate teams. The LCS requires all LCS teams to field an Academy roster, which competes in weekly matches and has its own playoffs, similar in structure to the LCS. However, these Academy rosters are more often used as a bench for older players – people worth keeping on the payroll but not worth playing in the LCS.

 

The Scouting Grounds, an annual competition hosted by Riot Games, takes the top twenty players from the online ladder and invites them to compete in a combine event. Players have the opportunity to work with LCS coaches and management, and LCS teams are awarded draft picks. Though a step in the right direction, only five players were signed to positions of the twenty that participated in Scouting Grounds 2019, all of which were to Academy rosters.

Collegiate League of Legends proves a more interesting opportunity for talent development. Collegiate esports has exploded in recent years – reaching $15 million in scholarships in 2018. College esports programs have their own coaches and managers, and can help serve as a facilitator between amateur and professional play. As of now, only a few players have gone from a collegiate program to LCS Academy rosters – none yet have made it to the LCS. By establishing more formal relationships between top esports universities and esports organizations, there can be an LCS feeder system, much like what is seen now in traditional sports.

What’s Next for North American League of Legends?

Although this year has been a disappointment for North American League of Legends fans, all hope is not lost. With proper support, NA is capable of producing quality players. Rookies “Tactical” and “Spica”, members of Team Liquid and TSM respectively, both received praise for their performances at Worlds this year. Despite this being their first year of play at the highest level, both players kept level heads and made big plays in clutch moments at Worlds.

North America’s talent pool is also about to grow thanks to Riot closing down its Oceanic competition. All players from Australia and New Zealand now count as native NA talent, growing North America’s talent pool by roughly 10%. North America first started taking notice of Oceania as a possible target for imports last year, with Cloud 9, Golden Guardians, and 100 Thieves all signing talent from the region last year.

 

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To stay up to date with all of our esports content and news, click here to subscribe to our Esports Newsletter.

In Chicago Esports Spotlight, KemperLesnik interviews a leader of the Chicago esports community. This issue features Kevin O’Brien, Co-Founder and COO of GGLeagues, a competitive platform for esports players of all skill levels. Our first follow-up, we learn about how GGLeagues has developed since our chat with CEO Erich Bao.

Hi Kevin! Thanks for taking the time to chat with us today. Tell us more about yourself and GGLeagues.

Thanks for having me!

My name is Kevin O’Brien and I am the COO and co-founder of GGLeagues. I currently live in Chicago, IL but was born in Delaware. In my spare time, you might find me playing Valorant, Rocket League, or Fall Guys.

GGLeagues, a Chicago startup, is building the foundation for recreational esports and provides a full service solution to bring gaming leagues and tournaments to communities.

What inspired you to join Erich Bao and the GGLeagues team?

What inspired me to join Erich Bao and the GGLeagues team was the mission of the company. GGLeagues has always been set on creating a more inclusive environment for the gaming community and that is something that is desperately needed. My passion is for building communities and creating a space where people feel they can come together.

Would you mind sharing more about your background? What led you to esports and what kind of work were you doing previously?

My journey started in the hospitality industry. I went to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY and from there, worked in prestigious restaurants in New York, Florida, and Illinois.. My goal was to start my own company which led me to go to DePaul University to get a degree in finance. During my time at DePaul University, I fell in love with the esports industry.

I started the Esports Student Leadership Board at DePaul University with one goal in mind: To raise awareness of the esports and gaming industry so students can become the next generation of industry leaders. My goal was not to create the next professional team, but to allow every student the opportunity to learn about how they can apply their degree to the gaming and esports industry.

What has GGLeagues been up to lately? Any new projects?

Over the past six months, we have been working more with park districts and cities across the country to bring leagues and tournaments to their communities. With youth sports being cancelled and remote learning on the rise due to COVID-19, we have seen a real need for more virtual community engagement.

Something we are extremely excited about is that we are launching the first national esports rec leagues for both youth and adults.
What this means is that ANY company that would like to engage with their communities through gaming can do so using the GGLeagues platform. Similar to an intramural kickball league, we believe esports can provide after-work camaraderie. GGLeagues provides the opportunity for organizations to join other organizations in state-wide leagues or have the ability to run private leagues.

We’ve seen a lot of investment into esports lately. What has it been like to raise an investment round when esports is getting plenty of attention?

That is exactly right. There have been a TON of investments into the esports industry recently. For us, it is not just about finding an investor – but finding the right group of strategic partners. We not only would like to find strategic partners that can lend insight into our business as we grow, but for GGLeagues to be able to provide value to the strategic partners we bring on.

 

Thanks for taking the time, Kevin! Be sure to support Chicago Esports and visit GGLeagues here.

This article covers two of the hottest games on Twitch, Fall Guys and Among Us. We dig into what these games are and what it means for Twitch viewership. 

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What is Fall Guys?

Created by UK-based studio Mediatonic, Fall Guys has turned the gaming world upside down. Released in early August 2020, the game has already amassed more than 80 million hours of content watched on Twitch. Already a commercial success, the game has sold over 7 million copies on Steam and is the most downloaded PlayStation Plus game of all time. 

Fall Guys can be best explained as Ninja Warrior meets Fortnite. Fall Guys takes sixty competitors through a series of courses, similar to what one would find on a game show like Wipeout! or Ninja Warrior. The top performers move on each round until there is one player left standing. 

Available on both PC and PlayStation, Fall Guys offers organized chaos. The game is designed to combine luck and skill in such a way to make no two rounds alike. Out of twenty-four courses, no round of Fall Guys features more than six. Some courses involve racing to the finish line, others require teamwork to move giant balls across the map. All have guaranteed silliness.

What is Among Us?

Based off of games such as Mafia or Werewolf, Among Us takes place in deep space. A crew of ten players cohabitates one of three maps. Players are either unsuspecting crew members or devious impostors. Crew members must survive until the final round and find the impostors; impostors must sabotage the mission and stay hidden.

Unlike Fall Guys, however, the game was not an overnight success. Among Us was released on June 15, 2018 by indie studio InnerSloth. The game was available on both iOS and Android, but not PC, which is where the game now dominates. On release, the game wasn’t seeing more than 50 players at a time.

Despite the lack of immediate success, the three-person development team continued releasing updates for the game, sometimes as often as once a week. Gradually, streamers started paying attention to the game. Korean streamers noticed it in 2019, followed by a few Brazilian streamers. In an interview with Kotaku, Programmer and Business Lead Forest Willard shared:

“We stuck with Among Us a lot longer than we probably should have from a pure business standpoint,” said Willard. “We tried to quit and should have quit several times.”

Among Us, which struggled to crack more than 50 concurrent players, now sees upwards of 110,000 players at any given time. 

What Does This Mean for Twitch?

Twitch, and live streaming in general, has gained massive attention in 2020. In March and April of 2020, live streaming grew 45% YoY. More entertainers, athletes, and celebrities have turned to Twitch than ever before to connect with their fans. Much like social media, live streaming offers fans a chance to feel more connected with their idols. The audience can comment and interact with one another, and the streamer, in real-time.

The rise of Fall Guys and Among Us reflects a greater trend on Twitch, the growth of content beyond gaming. While esports is the main thing people think of when they hear Twitch, top games like League of Legends and Fortnite were down in July. However, Just Chatting, the Twitch category featuring no game play of any kind, grew to 176 million hours watched in July, up from 166 million in June.

Personality Driven Content

The appeal of Just Chatting lies in the personalities of the streamers. Unlike esports, which is driven by high stakes competition and quality gameplay, the motivation for watching individual streamers is far different. A streamer’s ability to make jokes and keep the audience engaged makes for a quality stream, and this is supplemented by narrative-driven content. Fall Guys and Among Us lend themselves to storytelling. Rounds are easily narrated as we all know when the game ends – when there’s only one person or faction left. The streamer is either the last person standing, or on the victorious side of the space expedition, in the case of Among Us. There’s a natural progression that’s easily digestible and augmented by silly jokes. In win and in loss, the games are fun to play and watch.

Rounds of Fall Guys and Among Us are also far shorter than a game like League of Legends – which can last upwards of 40 minutes. A long, drawn-out League of Legends slugfest can be exciting when it’s ten world-class players giving it all. However, a 40 minute League of Legends match plagued by poor decisions and shoddy teammates leave a bad taste in everyone’s mouth – both the streamer and their audience. 

Conclusion

Games like Fall Guys and Among Us demonstrate the future of Twitch. Fast, fun gameplay that quickly changes pace and progression creates easy to narrate, digestible games. The easier to follow and commentate on, the likelier it is for a game to grow. Game developers will continue to tailor how they develop games to make them more streamer accessible. Streamers serve as both a marketing and retention lever for games, making them an important part of the marketing mix. 

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This is an interview with Dylan Liu, founder of Uconnect Esports. 

 

Hi Dylan! Thanks for taking the time to chat with us today. Tell us more about Uconnect Esports.

Hey Hauk, thanks for having me! Uconnect Esports is a sponsorship marketplace platform that allows brands to activate across over 150 of the biggest collegiate esports organizations in North America. We have organizations like UCLA , UT Austin and the University of Illinois. We also work with a number of major brands like Twitch, Cloud 9, HyperX, and more that we can’t announce yet.

 

What inspired you to come up with this idea? What pain point does your business solve?

I’ve been in collegiate esports since it first started back in 2011 as a freshman in college, and haven’t left the space since. My first job was working for a game publisher running the same sponsorship and community activation programs Riot had done when I was a student leader. The biggest problem I had as a student leader was finding brands and knowing what they wanted to see. 

 

From the publisher side, I had a huge problem with scalability and getting my post event deliverables from organizations. When you try to sponsor 100 different events, you’re dealing with 100 different event organizers that change every two years. Doing it by email was so painful and unnecessarily tedious. It got to the point where even though I was doing my dream job I wasn’t able to be creative or do anything exciting cause I was so bogged down by grunt work and logistics. The platform solves all of this so brands and Uconnect are freed up to run creative, authentic, and engaging campaigns.  

 

Would you mind sharing more about your background? What led you to esports and what kind of work were you doing previously?

I was in the first generation of collegiate esports leaders as the founder of Texas A&M Esports. We were among the top 3 largest and most successful collegiate esports organizations at the time, and probably the largest student organization on campus. I managed to get tapped into a nationwide network of collegiate leaders after being invited to the Riot Collegiate Summit in 2015, where over 150 leaders from across North America were selected and flown to Riot’s headquarters to share our knowledge and network with each other. Afterwards, I ended up getting lucky and joining a mid sized game studio that wanted to do esports and was able to test out my collegiate community marketing initiatives that did insanely well. 

 

Honestly I haven’t left collegiate esports, much less esports, my entire career. I’m all in on collegiate, have been my whole adult life and will be for the next couple years at least.

 

 

What do you think are the key differences between working in collegiate esports and professional esports?

Collegiate Esports is honestly more about the community. Professional esports is more about competition. I would liken collegiate esports more to the marketing/publishing aspect of gaming just because collegiate esports is more about the reach and size of your organization, event quality, and ability to execute on deliverables. At least that’s what the main value is right now. Everyone calls themselves collegiate esports organizations but really they are the gaming community on campus. Esports in collegiate has become synonymous with gaming.

The competitive side of collegiate is still important but it’s hard to get direct sponsorship value from it right now. What value you can get is mostly tied to on campus “arenas” and shared gaming spaces.  Viewership is doing a lot better but only recently after years of weak viewership due to students not caring if their own school isn’t playing. Other than that, it’s pretty much a less experienced version of pro esports, understandably so, which makes it a great place to grow new professionals. Professional esports is also very content creation and influencer-centric, whereas collegiate esports is very event-centric.

 

What has it been like running a startup during the pandemic?

Honestly, we had some sweet brand deals and campaigns lined up that were all delayed due to the pandemic and the closing of schools and live events. I was initially pretty bummed out and it was a bit scary. I was thinking of putting the company’s plans on hiatus and wanted to use the downtime to bunker down on the platform. Then we did the Collegiate Rising Digital Summit as a hail Mary and that really helped us find out how we could pivot. I think the pandemic forced us to think outside the box and opened a lot of new opportunities, like our recent partnership with Cloud 9. It’s allowed a lot of new innovation from students as well, which I’m seeing a ton of. Besides that literally nothing changed. My team and I have always worked remotely and from home so it’s pretty much business as usual besides the initial pivot scramble. 

 

What are your main goals for this upcoming academic year?

We’ve got some pretty big brands we’re talking to. I want to lock those down and start their activations this year and hopefully we’ll be able to do some live event activations in Spring. For now we’re spending our time showing brands what we did last Fall, finding new ways to activate online, and hopefully using the time leftover to put in some long awaited features, as well as work on expanding into some new opportunities. 

 

As a founder, what are you most proud of during your time with Uconnect Esports so far?

I’m really proud of our campaigns. They’ve all done really well and our brands were all super impressed with our work. Collegiate has always been such a frustrating and tedious space, and to hear from brands and collegiate leaders about how much easier we’re making life for them is really rewarding. You know, to hear that from your own community and your own people. The platform is still in alpha and we have a lot of things we need to refine and add, but I’m happy that at least the core concept has been so well received.

In the startup world, one of the biggest struggles is finding a product to make that people want. Despite all the hardships, knowing you’re building a product that makes people’s lives easier, especially your colleagues and friends that you have the most respect for, makes it easy to keep pushing forward.

Also one more thing – when I went to my first gaming convention I just wandered around alone and had useless conversations with booth workers who didn’t know me or care about what I was talking about. I’m really proud to go to conventions now and be surrounded by friends and people I respect and not be a total loser wandering aimlessly on the convention floor asking if anyone’s heard of Uconnect Esports.

 

Anything else you’d like to add?

Yeah, if you’re a brand looking to activate in collegiate esports, or are interested in collegiate esports, go talk to Twitch Student. Mark “Garvey” Candella and Kevin Hoang are the undisputed leaders in the space. They can connect you with the best entities in the space. I see way too many brands being screwed over by “collegiate esports experts (or companies)” that have absolutely no idea what they are doing. It’s sad because brands, especially non endemic ones, are very much needed in the space. I’m also down to chat as well.

Kevin Hoang @kebunbun
Mark Candella @GarveyNYC
Dylan (me) @DylanSLiu

Collegiate Esports is way more unique and difficult to navigate than brands think because the ecosystem is completely unlike anything in traditional sports or the traditional collegiate ecosystem. It’s unique enough that even most veteran esports professionals have absolutely no idea how collegiate esports works or how to activate in it. It’s being built as it grows, so brands that try to hop into it with a cookie cutter activation are always going to be in for a surprise. 

Thanks to Dylan for the interview! Check out Uconnect Esports for more information.

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In challenging times, sports have been a focal point for people to rally behind. Ten days following the terrorist attacks on 9/11, Mike Piazza of the New York Mets hit a home run celebrated to this day as one of the biggest moments of the franchise’s history. The home run became a symbol for New York, and the country as a whole, that we would all recover as a nation.

On the roller coaster that is 2020, the world of sports has been dealt several blows. The Olympics, a time for the entire world to unite through sport, has been delayed. Professional sports leagues have all tried to adapt, from bubbles and more, to mixed results. American sports suffered another hit last week, as college sports across the country have started to cancel their seasons. 

Esports, however, are in full swing. In August alone, there are major competitions in Call of Duty, League of Legends, Valorant and more. International championships are still slated for later this year, including for Overwatch and League of Legends. At a time when people need to  take their minds off of things, esports can serve as a focal point. 

KemperLesnik believes that collegiate esports can unite not only disenchanted students, but alumni and locals too.  

 

Fully Remote

Unlike any other sport, collegiate esports competitions can happen entirely remotely. Many, such as the College Carball Association (Rocket League,) have had competitions this summer remotely. Whether students are competing on a socially distanced campus, or from the comfort of their home, college students can safely compete in esports online. 

Being remote offers advantages beyond social distancing as well. Travel has been a consistent issue for college esports teams, from both a cost and time perspective. Many teams lack funding from their schools, and thus self fund long car trips and motel stays to compete in events. In some instances, a team can drive for over eight hours, compete and lose in one match, and be finished for the entire weekend. Discouraged, this team may not want to travel ever again. Taking travel out of the equation enables more teams to compete.

A potential concern with remote competition is competitive integrity. Students that have access to campus facilities may have access to better computers and stronger internet connections. Those that are competing at home may not have the same advantages. Though a legitimate concern, there are methods to mitigate some of these effects. Some games have the ability of changing servers between matches, allowing East and West coast participants to alternate server locations and improve internet connections.

 

The Infrastructure Already Exists

Grassroots by nature, the collegiate esports community is incredibly tight knit. As highlighted in our interview with Doc Haskell, Director of Esports at Boise State University, programs are quick to lift one another up. Most college esports programs have a direct line of communication to one another, both through their directors and their students.

This communication is supplemented through platforms like Discord. Most colleges have their own Discord servers, and many more exist tailored to specific games, regions and more. Using communication tools like Discord, competitions can be quickly coordinated between schools across the country. College esports competitions can be planned, organized and executed with Discord, and even used as a place for students to go to cheer on their school’s teams.

 

Other software helps along the way to create a high quality event without the high costs. Students can go live through broadcasting software like OBS. Using a platform like Battlefy, students are able to quickly organize a bracket and allow others to sign up for their events. Uconnect Esports, a sponsorship marketplace platform, allows brands to engage with hundreds of collegiate esports communities through event, organization, and varsity program sponsorship.

 

It Doesn’t Have to be Hard to Watch

A common criticism of esports, albeit a very fair one, is the difficulty for outsiders to understand what is going on. In complicated games such as League of Legends, with 150 different characters, items, and complex strategies, the game is very unapproachable for those that haven’t spent hours playing it. Many see games like League of Legends and immediately dismiss ever taking the time to watch it, due to this difficulty.

Not all esports games are like this though – take Rocket League. KemperLesnik has already written in detail why Rocket League is poised to be a major esport. The game is violence free, making it ideal for both brands and schools to get involved. More importantly, though, is its simplicity. While being an esport, Rocket League is a title that someone that has never played the game before will understand. By combining race cars with the rules of soccer, Rocket League has created an easy to follow esport title. It’s also about to become free to play, making it even more accessible. 

Something to Rally Behind

Collegiate Rocket League has a unique opportunity. With so many college sports on hiatus, Americans all need something new to rally behind. Due to its digital nature, college esports lends itself well to social distancing competitions. Matches can all be held online, and the infrastructure already exists to create quality college esports competitions. While many are looking for new entertainment to watch, Rocket League is a unique combination of being endemic to esports while also being enjoyable to casual viewers. College Rocket League can serve as an introduction to esports while also providing the nation with some much needed entertainment. 

An Interview with Boise State University Esports Director Doc Haskell

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Hi there! Would you mind introducing yourself for our readers?

I’m Dr. Chris “Doc” Haskell, an Associate Professor in the College of Education at Boise State University. I’ve been at BSU for the last fourteen years and taught high school band before that. Educational games and simulations was the teaching specialty during this period. It was in 2017 while researching game clubs and esports for a potential keynote that it became clear collegiate esports was about to explode. 

 

Kurt Melcher (Robert Morris University,) Kathy Chiang (UC Irvine,)  Mark Deppe (UC Irvine,) and AJ Dimick (University of Utah) all contributed to my rapid understanding of the space. As we like to say – just like the scientist in every disaster movie, we realized this thing was going to hit our campus. We decided to warn the president, and ended up on a rocket with Bruce Willis, in charge of the mission!

 

How did esports get started at Boise State? Whose idea was it, and how did it get the green light?

It was green-lit because it was the “gold rush moment.” The university accepted my prediction that, although there were only about 30 in 2017, there would be 1,000 schools with esports programs within the decade. Fortune favors the bold. 

 

How long did it take to get Boise State’s esports program up and running? What were your initial goals?

Spinning the program up is still in progress. In September of 2017, we had a signature and nothing else. Nobody delivers a program to you, you have to build it yourself. You build it a brick at a time. We played our first games in September 2017 and got our first thirteen machines the following month. In 2018, we secured a sponsor from OMEN, which brought us to a total of forty gaming PCs. We also started broadcasting in 2018 – we started in my tiny office!

We’ve continued to compete, raise money, broadcast, and expand every month since then. To date, we have secured or contracted over $1.7 million in cash and in-kind contributions for our program. Over $300k of that will be scholarships in the next few years. 

 

 

What does a typical day look like for you?

A typical day is atypical! During the season (Sept to Mid-Nov, Jan to late Mar) we are constantly preparing our teams to compete. We’re watching VODs, looking for game film, building competition plans and preparing our players and lineups. We are also preparing our broadcast team, researching opponents, building graphics, writing broadcast scripts, crafting story lines and coordinating social media. We run the equivalent of a dedicated esports TV station for our program. It’s a daily endeavor. 

We also work with sponsors and partners, developing events and relationships to keep them involved and supporting our students. We’re introducing new companies to our program and looking for mutually beneficial relationships. As the director, this is something I’m involved in almost daily. 

Academic success is, of course, also a top priority. We follow our players and students and coordinate with their professors to make sure they are getting a quality academic experience. We’re also always recruiting. Zoom calls and campus visits with potential players and their families. Boise State University is always looking ahead to the next generation.

 

What’s your favorite part of working in college esports?

Talent and heart. That’s the difference. Lots of talented leaders and thinkers have entered into collegiate esports since we started in 2017. People like Dan Clerke, Callum Fletcher, Chad Smeltz, Joe Gramano, Nick Travis, and others who have been part of professional esports are moving into collegiate full time. They are bringing their gifts to colleges. Likewise, super-smart academic minds are Ashley Jones, Dana Husted, Jay Prescott, Eugene Friar, and so many more have said, “we can learn this and make it happen on our campus.”

 

How has college esports changed since you started? Where will college esports be in five years?

In the next five years we will see the singularity with football. At the time of this writing, there are approx 880 of the 1300+ College programs in NCAA, NAIA, and USCAA. Around 400 colleges have either fully committed to official esports programs or are on the cusp. Those numbers will cross. Football will always be the #1 draw, but more schools will compete in esports. HBCUs will likely bring in all 107 schools shortly with leadership like Dr. Mark Williams at Florida Memorial University. 

 

What advice do you have for school administrators that would like to start an esports program at their school? How can they get the support they need to create a quality college esports program?

I don’t feel like I have the experience yet to offer hard and fast advice on the “how” yet. I’m still learning.  But, I would suggest finding and studying everything that the above-mentioned stars and all the other generous program leaders have made available.  Amazing program leaders like Shaun Byrne, Michael Jones, Kevin Reape, Dana Hustedt all share their amazing thoughts. Plug into a professional org like NACE for your school and get your leaders in NAECAD. These groups scaffold the learning and give schools a HUGE head start. 

 

I would also encourage all schools looking to start esports programs to truly invest for the long term. Make an experienced coach/director a better offer, the investment in their knowledge and experience is a fraction of the time and money you’ll spend learning those lessons on your own.

 

Thanks for taking the time, Doc! Be sure to visit Boise State’s esports page to learn more.

Looking to start your own esports program at your university? Reach out!

 

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An Interview with Disrupt Gaming Founder Mark Flood

 

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Mark Flood is a serial entrepreneur based in Austin, Texas. A lifelong gamer, his latest project is Disrupt Gaming, a leading esports organization. Disrupt Gaming fields teams in Rainbow Six: Siege and Tekken, and also features multiple streamers. This interview covers his start in esports and what it’s like to be the owner of an esports organization. To read more of Mark’s writing, you can visit his Substack page.

 

Hi Mark! Thank you for being here with us today. Could you introduce yourself and Disrupt Gaming?

I’m Mark Flood, AKA “cashflo.” I’m a 90’s kid…we used to have a messaging platform called AIM…the handles were always ridiculous like “volleyballchick95”…I just never got rid of mine.

 

I’m the CEO of Disrupt Gaming, an esports organization. We incorporated in 2018 and have been primarily focused on Rainbow Six Siege. We create loads of content and drive killer results for our brand partners.

 

How did your career bring you to esports?

In 2016, I left Yodle after it was acquired by web.com. I was the CTO and co-Founder for a sports betting start up called WagerWall. It was basically a peer-to-peer betting platform. The legal hassle of all the different state regulations was too much for us to deal with. We asked ourselves “what could we take this software to?” Gaming! We swapped out the name “Wager” for “Gamer” and we were off to the races. GamerWall had a few iterations from peer-to-peer betting platform all the way to a white labeled tournament hosting service. In late 2017-early 2018 we were acquired by Mainline.GG.

 

No joke, the same day, I had already started my next project, which was OriginGG. A website builder for esports teams…think Shopify but SPECIFICALLY for esports. Through OriginGG I interacted with a TON of esports teams and got to peek under the hood of their business operations. It didn’t take long for me to realize that the vast majority of esports teams are run by, shall we say, inexperienced people. I had kept in touch with a co-worker from GamerWall and long time college friend, Cliff, and I told him, “Dude, I think we’d have an immediate advantage over 99% of these teams.” A few days later we rounded up some capital and Disrupt Gaming was born. 

 

What does a typical day look like for you as the founder of an esports team? 

Oh man. One thing I’ll probably mention again is that esports is really young, especially in terms of how to run a business in it. Because of this, I do a ton of different things. On any given day I may be:

 

• Sending 20-30 outreaches to potential brand partners

• Sending 20-30 outreaches to potential principle investors

• Optimizing analytics for our social media channels

• Editing videos

• Editing photos

• Working with editors who are also making videos

• Making sure our creators and players are on top of their obligations

• Payroll

• Taxes

• Writing long form newsletters or updates

• Doing a VOD review of a competitive match

• Working with our coaches on gameplans

 

 

Sheesh – I’m tired just reading this….there is never nothing to do.

 

What are some of the challenges you face as an esports organization? 

In regards to Disrupt Gaming specifically, our challenges are really the same as any other start up. Can we generate more revenue than we burn and can we do it before we run out of cash? We are incredibly efficient. Some of our immediate competitors have outspent us by 10-20x but only output a fraction of the results.

 

We know what our product is and who we sell it to. We’ve got incredible testimonials from our brand partners and will continue to build solid case-studies.

 

How has running an esports team changed since you started Disrupt Gaming? 

A lot. I’d say one of the largest errors our competitors make is investing too many dollars into being cool. Surprise…that’s not really a business model. We used to be like that too. You want to spend your cash (oxygen) to generate publicity. This can be from signing folks to the organization, adding new competitive teams, spending a ton on content, etc. However none of those things are “dollar in/dollar out”. Most things aren’t, but trying to “be cool” is really far away from it and the esports graveyard is completely covered with teams who blew through too much cash trying to keep up with the Jones’. 

 

To tie that back to the question, we are much more focused now. At the beginning we had so many people and were trying to do too many things. Fighting games, Call of Duty, Gears of War… we thought we were “doing what esports teams are supposed to do” but..surprise again… following what a crowd does generally isn’t a great practice.

 

What’s your next big goal for Disrupt Gaming?

Turning this into a sustainable and profitable business. I could tell you that our goal is to win a Siege championship (it is) but what people don’t understand is that does not necessarily create a real business. Winning championships will be a function of us running a successful business. You can’t win championships if your team disappears.

 

We’d also like to find solid brand partners (our customers) to build long term relationships with who want to grow in the gaming space with us.

 

What are the biggest problems facing the esports industry today?

On the macro level, even though esports feels like it’s fully mainstream and widely adopted – that’s not really the case. I’ve been hearing “people watch other people play video games?” for five years now. Until this hits a point of inflection, it will be a bit of a headwind. In addition to that, as an ecosystem, there is no set way to monetize. Despite tons of people watching and engaging with esports, the ways in which teams monetize have not been optimized. I’ve got some ideas on how that will play out but there is no paved path.

 

Any closing thoughts?

Gaming isn’t what it used to be. Internet infrastructure has allowed for a level of collaboration that did not exist previously. This means that a kid in small town Nebraska who is too small to play football, can gain access to communities and skill building that would be nearly impossible for him to get in his hometown. Teamwork, communication, EQ…all of these are necessary to excel at the highest level of today’s competitive games. Add to this that you can make a pretty cool career for yourself and it’s obvious that the old stigmas of gamers need to be put to bed. Playing a competitive game is a FAR BETTER brain exercise than sitting on the couch watching Real Housewives. If you’ve got kids who are gamers, do your job as a parent and make sure it’s not a bad habit (same signals as any other bad habit) and instead of fighting against the current, maybe join them!

 

Be sure to cheer on Disrupt Gaming as they compete in the Rainbow Six Siege: US Division, the top American league for Rainbow Six. You can also read more of Mark’s writing here. To learn more about Rainbow Six, you can read our primer here.

Following our last piece on collegiate esports, we wanted to dive deeper into some of the best college esports programs. Though no two schools are alike we found that all schools had the following in common.

 

• Multiple full-time, dedicated staff to manage and coach the teams, often with former professional esports experience
• A commitment to League of Legends and Overwatch
• A system designed to retaining top alumni as coaches
• Dedicated practice space 

 

We cover four of the leading esports colleges in the country and why they succeed. 

 

University of California Irvine

UC Irvine is often the first school that comes to mind when it comes to college esports, and is the first esports program at a public university. The hallmark of UCI’s esports program is its arena, one of the largest in the country. The 3,500 square foot facility features 72 high end gaming PCs, as well as a full broadcasting station. UC Irvine also offers boot camps in League of Legends and Overwatch.

UCI’s esports program currently offers scholarships in League of Legends, Overwatch and Super Smash Bros Ultimate. The League of Legends team is incredibly competitive, placing in the top four in 2019 and winning the championship in 2018. The UCI Anteaters’ Overwatch team placed in the top 16 last year, and though there is no official collegiate circuit for Smash, UCI’s Smash players are also very competitive.

 

On top of its competitive esports program, UCI and its founder, Mark Deppe, are behind the North Atlantic Scholastic Esports Federation (NASEF.) A nonprofit, NASEF’s goal is to help bring esports curriculum to schools across the continent. UCI also offers an Esports Management program, designed for professionals looking to get better educated about esports.

 

Maryville University

Located just 22 miles from downtown St. Louis sits Maryville University. The program is headed by Daniel Clerke, who is also the General Manager of EUnited, a leading esports organization. Clerke had additional esports experience prior to joining the Maryville Saints, having founded Enemy Esports, which competed in the LCS. His coaching staff includes a former coach of LCS team Golden Guardians, as well as an alumni from Maryville’s dominating League of Legends team. 

 

Maryville currently offers scholarships for varsity students competing in League of Legends and Overwatch. Both of these teams are some of the most prominent in the nation. Maryville’s League of Legends squad has placed first in Riot’s official collegiate competition in three of the past four years. Not to be outdone by its sister squad, the Overwatch team placed in the top four in last year’s Overwatch Collegiate Championship. Maryville also offers club teams in CSGO, Hearthstone, Rainbow Six Siege and Rocket League.

 

Robert Morris University

Chicago’s very own Robert Morris University was the first university to bring esports under its athletic department, dating back to 2014. Since then, RMU has expanded into multiple titles, currently fielding a roster of 50 players under their varsity program. These games include League of Legends, Overwatch, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, CSGO, Rocket League and Fortnite. Their League of Legends team won the 2020 Midwest Conference and placed 3-4 in the 2017 League of Legends Collegiate Championship. Read more about why we’re confident in Chicago’s esports scene here.

 

Harrisburg University

Located in the capital of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology offers no varsity sports, but excels in esports. The program is headed by Chad Smeltz, better known in the League of Legends community as “History Teacher.” Smeltz is a high school teacher turned esports general manager, having worked for LCS teams Immortals and P1. Returning to education, Smeltz leads Harrisburg’s esports program with a dual focus on education and professionalism. HU’s League of Legends coach is Alex “Xpecial” Chu, known as one of the leaders of both TSM and Team Liquid. 

HU currently offers scholarships for League of Legends, Overwatch and Hearthstone. The Harrisburg Storm won the 2019 Overwatch Collegiate Championship in 2019. Their League of Legends teams won the ASU GSV 2020 Summit, a collegiate League of Legends invitational inviting some of the leading schools in the nation. HU also hosts the annual HUE Invitational, a gaming and music festival, in downtown Harrisburg. Harrisburg University also offers a Bachelor of Science in Esports Management.

 

Are you interested in starting an esports program at your school? Comments or questions? Reach out!

 

To stay up to date with all of our esports content and news, click here to subscribe to our Esports Newsletter.

 

Following the pathway of traditional sports, many schools have started to develop their own esports programs. Organizations such as NACE have been formed to organize and structure collegiate esports competitions. Universities are building esports arenas and recruiting talent from all over the world to compete at their schools.

 

The first varsity esports program was created by Robert Morris University in 2014. Starting with League of Legends, the Chicago university recruited some of the best young talent at the time. Multiple players would go on to compete in the LCS or Academy teams. Esports scholarships have been on the rise ever since – nearly 200 schools awarded around $15 million in scholarships in 2019.

 

Despite this rise in collegiate esports, no two programs are alike. Some schools invest heavily into training facilities, coaching staff and equipment under a varsity program. Other schools view esports more as a community to be led under student life. No matter the goal, schools want to capitalize on the next generation of sports as new students reach higher education.

 

Students

As might be expected, college students that participate in esports aren’t typical students. According to a survey by Midgame, an esports analytics software company, over 50% of students involved in their school’s esports programs study a STEM field. The National Center for Education Statistics, part of the Department of Education, reported that roughly 18% of college students studied STEM fields in the 2015-2016 school year. 

Unsurprisingly, 81% of students are motivated to participate in collegiate esports because they get to play their favorite games. However, this is quickly followed by both a drive to compete, as well as motivation to connect with other students. Long gone are the days of gaming as a solo activity. Today, gaming is a central part of many students’ social lives. Esports serves as both a way to make friends as well as satisfy a competitive streak.

 

Games

Team games lead the way for top competitive titles of esports programs. Riot Games, creators of League of Legends, created a nationwide circuit for their competitions. 354 schools competed in Riot’s 2019 season. Other common games that schools support are Overwatch and Rocket League.

Similar to issues we’ve outlined in the past, most schools are not supportive of many of the leading esports titles due to violence. Esports titles such as Rainbow Six Siege, CSGO and Call of Duty are often out of the question. Most schools don’t want to be associated with any sort of firearm usage depicted in first person shooter titles such as these. 

Valorant, the newest title from Riot Games, will be a telling moment for collegiate esports. Though a shooting game, Riot has mandated that all esports competitions turn off all blood and graphic settings. Riot has built a strong reputation for creating a large collegiate League of Legends scene, though it’s not yet clear how schools will react to student Valorant teams. Read more about Valorant here. 

 

Athletics or Student Life?

As more schools look to bring esports under their athletic departments, some students have pushed back. While more school support means more resources, it can also bring more challenges. A grassroots, community driven school club can be quickly stifled by the bureaucracy of a university. The DIY nature of many esports clubs may clash with the process and organization of a school.

However, if done properly, an esports program can flourish under a school’s guidance. Harrisburg University, based in Pennsylvania, offers no varsity sports. In 2018, Harrisburg created its first varsity sports team – its esports program. Headed by Chad Smeltz, a former manager of an LCS team, Harrisburg competes as the Harrisburg Storm. HU fields leading teams in League of Legends and Overwatch, and even has former professional players as coaches. If schools hire experienced esports professionals to lead their esports programs, their college programs will thrive.

 

Competitions

Many game developers, like Riot Games, have created collegiate leagues for their own games. Activision Blizzard, which publishes Overwatch, Hearthstone and more, facilitates competitions through TESPA. There are also multiple third party tournament organizers, such as Collegiate Star League, hosting competitions in a variety of games, often for scholarship prizes.

Many schools are starting to host their own competitions. Earlier this year, our hometown schools of DePaul University and Robert Morris University hosted the State Street Showdown. The two Chicago universities competed in multiple esports titles like League of Legends and Rocket League. Universities hosting their own esports competitions helps build community and friendly rivalries between schools.

 

What’s Next for College Esports?

As more schools get involved, collegiate esports will become a pipeline for the next generation of esports talent. For many, collegiate esports are the first time these student athletes are on organized teams. The pipeline from little league to high school to college to the big leagues isn’t there yet. These schools will help esports athletes develop into quality teammates and leaders to participate in the LCS, OWL and other professional esports leagues.

Collegiate esports also serves as an opportunity to develop the next generation of esports professionals. Participating in a school’s esports club or team offers the chance to hone skills in marketing, graphic design, coaching and more. Today’s college team managers will become the GMs for the likes of Cloud 9, TSM and more.

 

Are you interested in starting an esports program at your school? Comments or questions? Reach out!

To stay up to date with all of our esports content and news, click here to subscribe to our Esports Newsletter.

 

In Chicago Esports Spotlight, KemperLesnik interviews a leader of the Chicago-based esports startup community. This issue features Erich Bao, Founder and CEO of GGLeagues, a competitive platform for esports players of all skill levels.

 

Hi Erich! Thanks for taking the time to chat with us today. Tell us more about GGLeagues.

Thanks so much! GGLeagues is an esports management platform that specializes in working with organizations such as cities, park districts and schools to set up and run their community based esports leagues. We run leagues for thousands of players that are focused on allowing players to compete with their local community members. We love being able to use esports as a way of connecting players and building relationships. 

Currently we are working with over 50 park districts and cities to run their local esports leagues, from youth to adult, and working with over 30 schools to run their intramural esports leagues.

 

What inspired you to come up with this idea? What pain point does your business solve?

I’ve been playing video games since I was 10 years old but realized that I have made remarkably few friends through gaming. At the same time, I’ve played in a lot of sports leagues and the best experiences were always with other people. It was such a great way to connect with other people and I thought, why can’t gaming accomplish that? So we set out to find a way to use gaming to help bring the community together and allow people to actually connect with one another through gaming. 

 

As we have grown, we have realized that there are many partners in these cities, parks, and universities with a similar goal but they don’t necessarily know how to run an esports league. So now we are working with many of them to help them set up and run their esports leagues. 

 

Would you mind sharing more about your background? What led you to esports and what kind of work were you doing previously?

I have been a gamer my whole life but never imagined my career would take me into esports. I actually started my career working in private equity but realized that I just wasn’t excited about the businesses that we were investing in. Due to that, I applied to go back to business school but before I could do that, I spent a year confounding a digital marketing startup and from there I was bit by the entrepreneurial bug. After that, I knew that building a business was what I was truly passionate about and began thinking about the major problems that I felt I could help solve. That is what led me to GGLeagues and esports as I felt that this was an area that I could really make a difference in. So once I arrived at Chicago Booth business school, I focused on how to get GGLeagues off the ground and start turning my vision into a reality. 

 

How has it been working in the Chicago esports environment? How do you think it’s different than working in “esports hubs” such as Los Angeles or Dallas?

The Chicago esports environment has been amazing! We have met so many other people that are helping to establish and grow esports here. Sure we don’t have any of the name brand publishers, pro teams, or other infrastructure as some of the other hubs. But that has created an incredibly collaborative environment here where I think everyone recognizes that we are all working together to put Chicago on the map and build up esports here to rival anywhere else. There are some amazing schools, teams, and players here and with that spirit – we may not be an esports hub yet, but we will be soon!

 

On your website, GGLeagues has offered free 6 week intramural leagues for schools as a response to the pandemic. How has the response to that been?

We have been so humbled by the response to that. As you can imagine, so many people had their lives disrupted by the pandemic and we were just trying to do something that could help esports clubs and teams offer something for their communities. Not only did schools love the opportunity to have that, but we also were excited to see the interest from the players themselves as we had some schools with over 100 players signing up for their intramural esports leagues. 

 

This has extended to the park districts that we have worked with as well. We have been lucky enough to work with some incredible communities and are working with more every day! Overall, the response and interest in these leagues has far exceeded what we could have imagined and we are glad that we are able to provide something that players have been able to enjoy and look forward to during the pandemic. 

 

I get asked frequently, the pandemic has led to more people playing games right? And I don’t think that is necessarily accurate. I think those players and the community has been there all along, but now just happens to be the time for esports to shine! 

 

What has it been like running a startup during the pandemic?

Luckily for us, esports is virtual and allows us to be less affected than many other businesses during the pandemic. On top of that, we have a fantastic team that has been able to do an incredible job despite the challenging circumstances. 

 

Anything else you’d like to add?

We are looking to raise a seed round this summer and interested investors can reach me at erich@ggleagues.com.

 

Finally, I would like to thank Hauk for allowing us to share our story about GGLeagues!

 

Thank you to Erich Bao for sharing his entrepreneurial story! For more information, you can visit GGLeagues at their website. Be sure to support esports in Chicago!