A new report suggests the growing trend of competitive community gaming will continue to gain traction and make money
Following Fortnite’s World Cup in July, which saw an unprecedented audience size and a $30m prize, esports is tipped to grow even larger in the coming years.
A bew report from analyst group Rethink Technology Research suggests Esports revenue will grow from $900m in 2018 to $5.05bn in 2024.
The billion dollar revenues will be split between game publisher fees, sponsorship, media broadcasting rights, tickets and merchandise, tipping and advertising.
The firm said that a key aspect of its billion dollar forecast is revenue streams from media rights, where broadcasters gain rights to broadcast tournaments.
It predicts these will climb more steeply than any other category of esports monetisation over the next five years, increasing more than 12 times.
“The year 2019 will go down as the one esports burst through to mainstream public consciousness after a great northern summer of events culminating in the FIFA esports World Cup in August,” the firm writes in its report.
“However it was the game Fortnite, whose World Cup in July caused many people to sit up and take notice due to the sheer scale of the event and the prize money on offer, $30 million in total. This was almost identical to the prize pool for the women’s FIFA world cup for “real” football, which represented a coming of age for the female version of the sport, generating big global audiences.”
“The one elephant in the room is esports betting, which in 2018 generated significantly greater revenue than all other categories combined. Although betting involves many esports fans and also presents opportunities to video service providers, it is a distinct sector outside the esports community or ecosystem that can to some extent be regarded as parasitic.”