In recent years, global esports has been in what many have termed a “winter” period, signified by declining revenues and stuttering growth. Despite the industry’s seeming nadir, it could be headed toward a commercial “spring” thanks to the revamp of its global calendar.
2023 has seen growing year-on-year revenues across the industry potentially signifying a thawing from its slumber, an idea that the Global Esports Federation (GEF) says is thanks in no small part to efforts to engage new stakeholders.
One of the industry’s organizing bodies, the GEF has been a prominent voice for the growth of esports, particularly by inviting new voices into the fold.
Initiatives such as the GEF’s headline annual Global Esports Games and its touring series, the Global Esports Tour (GET), showcase a drive from the industry’s governing body to kickstart a new growth cycle by engaging underserved markets.
The 2025 Global Esports Games, which will take place in December of that year, have been announced for Lima, Peru, for the very first time while the 2024 edition of the GET includes stops in Rio De Janeiro (Brazil), Kuching (Malaysia), Lima, Baku (Azerbaijan), and more locations across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
Speaking to Sportcal (GlobalData Sport), GEF chief executive Paul J. Foster is positive about esports’ growth trajectory despite a rough few years, saying: “We're still in the early days. If you think about the Olympics, that's been around for hundreds so we should look at it through that lens. Like many things [esports] created an explosion, and then it stabilized.
“There’s been a level of consolidation, but now you’ll find a level of expansion again.”
That expansion, Foster says, will be fueled by growth in technologies and expansion into new territories.
International Expansion
In April, the GEF appointed Nodwin Gaming and Cinematic as portfolio management companies to expand the body’s reach in important global markets.
Nodwin, a South Asian gaming and esports company, is managing the expansion of GEF’s global events portfolio across South and Central Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Southeast Asia, while Cinematic is doing the same for North America.
The tie-up is one of the most prominent signifiers of the GEF’s continued drive for international growth.
Nodwin, the GEF stated, was appointed thanks to its previous experience in organizing gaming events, and its existing partnerships with major industry players, and will help to cement the GET’s prominence in the international esports calendar.
Foster reveals that the GEF has been in contact with as many as 20 different countries over the future hosting of GET events, such is the clamor for new markets to become an early adopter in this growth industry.
By allowing the GEF to host as many as 20 events through the year the GET is the main vehicle for maintaining the GEF’s position at the forefront of the industry by delivering events in focus areas for the GEF, explains Foster, and by facilitating a growing number of countries to engage with the GET, the likes of Nodwin and Cinematic are playing a crucial role in the expansion of the sport as a whole.
Nodwin, in particular, is positioned across several GEF target growth areas in Asia and the Middle East, a region that will see a major swell in esports activity over the coming years.
The next five editions of the flagship Global Esports Games have already been announced with China (December 2024), Peru (2025), the USA (2026), Qatar (2027), and Azerbaijan (2028), all penciled in to host events.
Saudi Arabia is also hosting the first edition of the Esports World Cup, which is taking place from July 4 through August 25, 2024, in Riyadh, and will also host the inaugural Olympic Esports Games in 2025.
Although the GET is not an organizer of the Esports World Cup, Foster is nonetheless enthused about Saudi Arabia’s role in the global esports industry, saying: “Riyadh is doing a spectacular job as a global hub for esports and gaming.
“The [Esports World Cup] will be a pivotal moment. As we talked about, before there was this period of reflection [for the industry] in some respects, and now there’s an explosion again to be fueled by the Esports World Cup [and Saudi Arabia].”
Alongside the Middle East, the US has long been a major market for esports, with many of the world’s top talent hailing from the country.
But in recent years, it is a territory that has lost prominence in comparison to other rival nations such as China and Saudi Arabia when it comes to the sport’s commercial landscape. However, Foster stresses that the “incredible volume of hosting opportunities” in the country means its status as esports’ sleeping giant isn’t likely to last.
“The US is a very well-developed market for sport commercially,” he says. “I wouldn't say it's untapped, I would say that the opportunities in the US are enormous.
“In California alone, you probably have 10 cities that can host [esports events] and then across the country, in other states, you've got very advanced technology companies and young populations that are very interested in this universe, great universities that are investing heavily in this space.
The future of Esports
Unbridled expansion, while promising, still poses issues for esports in terms of harnessing that and channeling it into tangible commercial output, according to Foster.
“[Esports] is an industry that's still new in a lot of ways, and yet the [participant] numbers are enormous and the opportunities are enormous,” he states.
“So how do we harness that? How do we captivate that? How do we cultivate that? How do we seize that opportunity? And how do we make sure it's something that everyone can have access to?”
As much as international expansion will help to democratize the industry on the back of ever-expanding commercial opportunity, it is the booming landscape of technological innovation around esports and the variation that comes from that that will help to secure the industry’s future, Foster states.
“I think you'll see tournament development and different formats. This will be heavily expanded through emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, which will have a huge impact not only in esports competitions, but how games are made, and brought to life and the marketing of that and the adjacent industries as well, the creative economies that surround esports.”
This technology growth opens doors for even comparatively smaller, less developed esports markets. In 2022, the development and growth corporation for the UK’s West Midlands region agreed a 10-year partnership with the GEF to develop and grow esports in the area where several of the UK’s biggest tech companies are based.
“We're really proud of this strategic framework agreement we signed in Birmingham,” said Foster. “We signed that just before the Commonwealth esports championships in the Commonwealth Games, and we did that for a very important reason to establish the legacy opportunity for the games itself.
“The United Kingdom has a huge offering in terms of host cities and potential offerings, but the West Midlands, we will keep our word in terms of seeking to engage with the West Midlands growth companies about all sorts of opportunities due to leverage and level up opportunities around gaming and esports.”
That similar agreements have since been signed with the likes of Azerbaijan is telling of the willingness of the GEF to give any market a chance to flourish.
With the confluence of industry, innovation, and internationalization coming together, Foster is naturally positive about the path that not just the GEF but global esports as a whole is taking.
“We're really at the beginning. But it's not the start. I'm super excited about the opportunities. We've met tons of organizations who want to collaborate and create stuff together.
“So the challenge is really, how do you harness that? And how do you schedule that in a way or plan for that at a time of extremely fast-evolving technologies? That's a great problem to have.”
