Posts Tagged: "eSports Competitions"

The Use of Blockchain in the eSports Industry

As an industry, gaming and eSports can typically adopt new technologies far quicker than say financial or logistics industries – so aspects of blockchain technology can be expected in eSports very soon. This is due, in part, to the age of the eSports audience which is typically very young, and therefore tech-savvy. Major eSports events now attract more viewers and fans than traditional sporting events, and around $4.6BN was generated last year by gaming content on live and on-demand video services. By 2019, the eSports audience is expected to grow to around 330,000,000 people.

Esports Sponsorship Agreements: What to Look Out For

Esports is a truly global phenomenon, with some analysts estimating worldwide viewership at approximately 300 million, potentially rising to 500 million by 2020. With so many eyeballs on esports – and with so many of those eyeballs being in a millennial category that is young, affluent, globalized, and technologically-driven, but increasingly challenging for brands to engage with – esports presents an exciting opportunity for sponsors. And, as with any other sport, sponsorship can be a significant revenue generator for rights holders. But, intellectual property rights are complex in esports. When entering into an esports sponsorship arrangement, both rights holders (whether they be players, teams, tournament organizers or games publishers) and sponsors face many of the same issues that the parties to a deal in traditional sports do.

The rise of eSports creates a complicated relationship with IP

Recently, eSports have exploded in popularity to the point that college conferences, such as the Big 10, are now fielding eSports teams. Patented technologies and partnerships in the eSports field have been developed to take advantage of this boom as well. However, there are problems with enforcing IP rights, both because the patents could be potentially held as ineligible subject matter and the ownership rights for the IP are difficult to determine.