The Esport Economic Bubble

What's one billion dollars really worth? Dexter investigates the economics of the esports bubble and finds out how people behind the scenes get used by an explosive industry.
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[@JKay297]

How the fuck are you gonna show Dota 2 being played various times in video, yet never talk about Dota 2 and it’s annual $40m prizepool…

[@Jumbleman5]

No mention of inflated viewership stream numbers spurred on by item drops in the major esports titles. People see huge viewer numbers for tournaments on twitch and don't realize how much of that audience has it idling in the background for a chance to win something valuable. Game devs offer those incentives knowing that it misrepresents the esport's popularity.

[@redsox258]

I didn't even think about that! For sure, the numbers are being misrepresented in esports, everything down to the viewers and the money, and the "hype" it's all being inflated. And even with inflated numbers, the economics are STILL bad! At some point esports is going to run out of tricks to make it look like a profitable business. Investors are not going to keep pumping money into this thing without seeing a return.

[@0xR0B1N]

The thing about most esports is that they lack a grassroots movement of people having a genuine interest in playing them competitively. Meanwhile, the FGC has almost its entire history based off of people wanting to prove that they're the best at a game. Look at Melee players competing despite Nintendo's antagonism, Melty Blood players having tournaments run out of bathrooms or public parks. That's what makes for a real scene; people choosing to compete despite a lack of corporate support.

[@MinusTheCoffee]

Clearly you have no idea about Dota and mobas before they became popular and the community that was there pre 2010. teams and people would travel around the world to play lans for close to no prize pool. Not sure which esports your talking about here exactly

[@0xR0B1N]

@@MinusTheCoffee What a fantastic example! That's exactly what I'm talking about. A grassroots foundation for a competitive scene. Games like Starcraft, Dota, Counter Strike. These, much like many fighting games, have genuine. grassroots organized tournaments. Those games took off because people wanted to play them, not because they had huge prize pools paid for by Blizzard or Valve. Compare that to games like Battleborn, which tried to force a competitive scene, backed only by corporate money. Once they pull out, your scene is dead. Games like Dota, Starcraft, Counter Strike, have genuine interest and can survive a lack of corporate backing.

[@Midnight_Freefall]

Ah, yes. The infamous "bathroom tourney"

[@j-rob7236]

Hol up hol up. Bathrooms?? What’s the story behind that?

[@angrygun7826]

yeah no one cares about your pedo smash tournaments fighting on a cliff all game

[@matrinoxtm]

The bubble only exists in the west, mostly NA. It’s doing well in China and Korea

[@yabo_san]

the thing that i will never understand about the greater esports scene is someone just dropping a game entirely as soon as there isn't a professional circuit or a prize pool. do esports pros actually have fun playing esports? meanwhile the fgc will run tournaments for basically nothing.

[@-nomi.-]

this is something i thought about straight away. it's no wonder a good number of fgc have been cautious about esports when the games are just discarded like that.

[@metrazol]

"Peak dad energy" is a helluva phrase when talking about esports.

[@richardsamueljordan1569]

You know these guys get laid more than you, right? Whats it been 35 years for you?

[@damanwithaplan8056]

Who the hell do you think you are?

[@Anonymous25491]

Esports bubble has popped , sponsors and investors have pulled out. Audience is young kids and college kids who have one thing in common ( NO MONEY ).

[@MadKieranM]

Good video man

[@judeking9122]

No mention of the Dota 2 the international tournament.

[@timothyhunter4724]

Sadly, video will never capture the smell of these events.

[@KrypeAV]

Honestly I've been to two TIs in Seattle in the scorching heat of summer and it was fine

[@vaughangarrick]

I had no idea this existed

[@juvi97orAizen]

I think it’s rather telling that your only player interview was with a hots player…

[@Jjjbbb5678]

Why

[@Jjjbbb5678]

Sorry not super familiar with the context

[@juvi97orAizen]

@@Jjjbbb5678 they basically cherry picked the one game that was high profile and shut down by its developers in service of their argument, without ever acknowledging the much larger titles that don’t have the same issues (such as league or dota). There are genuine issues in esports, even in these larger games, but instead of speaking to those, they just present a fairly disingenuous piece.

[@lynnkeating3921]

It's sad because imo hots is a better game than lol and dota 2

[@juvi97orAizen]

@@lynnkeating3921 aha well you’re entitled to your opinion! But I have to say, hots’ main draw was that it was streamlined and simplified, which i see as beneficial for casual players but not desirable in a professional setting. The overall strategy and execution ceiling is substantially lower than either of the other 2 games.

[@matthewlarson1707]

For the algorithm, king

[@richardsamueljordan1569]

The moment when you realize that fat beer gut smelly football fans screaming at a tv are exactly the same. And they have the nerve to make fun of anyone.

[@Midnight_Freefall]

Shout out Sean Ranklin

[@TheChosen1inc]

Nah they arent the same, e-sports will never be as successful because the games are always changing unlike regular sports which stay relatively the same. Games as an industry will eventually fuck itself like b4 when greed begins to consume the industry even further

[@mgproryh]

@@TheChosen1inc have you ever heard of a franchise?

[@matthewharper4677]

@@TheChosen1inc you just described every sport that has ever existed...they are all filled with greed.

[@Prockski]

Why does this have so few views?

[@sussybussin3708]

They don't cover fighting game tournament who running since 90s

[@GC-ps9mn]

Nice

[@JoolsUK]

Anyone here do the esports degree available at 5 UK Universities? 🧐

[@DerDudelino]

It's not necessarily a bubble, just needs a market correction. Players are literally bathing in cash, with League of Legends pros cashing in over a Million a year in salary while their organisations struggle to turn a profit. That needs to change. Orgs made a huge amount of mistakes with their contracts - for example that players also cash in the majority of tournament wins. That only makes sense, when the salary itself is lower than what you make your team. Investors must be baffled to see their athletes buying mansions and the CEO driving a Ferrari. But in the year end meeting they are like: Yeah, we haven't turned a profit this year. Thanks for letting us burn your cash :O)

[@savagecabbage553]

The league of legends scene is definitely not the same as DOTA or COD. This video keeps showing LoL crowds and events but covers lower engagement games. Why not interview someone like Travis Gafford or like an esports owner. So much wrong with this video.

[@jacobitosuperstar]

Why is it wrong?? LCS is a bubble. And their viewership is going down. Also, VICE reported Riots lawsuit regarding women treatment, thus not RIOT influenced people would chime in. Call it Travis Graford school, players and owners.

[@Jjjbbb5678]

The point of the video isnt wrong. Esports is massively overinflated by shady tactics and corporate money. It does not bring in enough money to profit

[@matrinoxtm]

You guys are all referring to NA. I don’t think esports is in much of a threat outside of that region

[@laius6047]

Damn that dude got a memory loss because the game got shut down. No wonder there's no future for eSports

[@Lovelykochi]

I went into a catatonic state for a week after they shut down the club penguin servers. It’s real

[@sotpunkkatt158]

Starcraft 2 is somehow still doing well

[@craigstangl9701]

most skill intensive 1v1 game. always have a following.

[@Fenixmaian7]

Hi Kure

[@Mockturtlesoup1]

The audience just isn't there. I don't know of anybody that watches these types of tournaments, and most of my friend still play(they mostly play online team FPS games like call of duty.) Even myself, who does sometimes watch other people play video games, pretty much do it exclusively on KZbin, and not live, even on twitch. For example I'm a Nintendo kid at heart(I'm 37), so I sometimes like watching people like GPB or Ryukhar play really difficult levels or hacks. But I can only watch the edited versions. When they just upload they full live stream, it gets to boring and repetitive(though kaizo Mario is probably a horrible example of an "e-sport", as you have to watch the person die over and over and over again in the same spot.) Another major problem is that there are so many different games. Most of them I've never played and don't even understand. Even games that I used to play as a kid, like street fighter, I checked out a tournament(playing one of the newer versions of street fighter of course), and while I enjoyed it for a bit, I couldn't relate to it because I don't know the moves, or how hard it is, or the strategy, etc. In fact, even people who do play that game(meaning casual players) likely won't be able to fully appreciate the strategy, or what players are doing. A part of also wonders how long a person can watch people playing certain games and stay just as entertained. The other problem of course is that the games are changing all the time. New games come out, go out of fashion, some people stay with that game while others move to a different game, etc.

[@salomonbarrios771]

Mucho texto

[@Mockturtlesoup1]

@@salomonbarrios771 Sí señor. Lo siento.

[@laius6047]

Yeah I'm a gamer but I don't see appeal to watch a competitive gaming seirrs seriously. I have Wathed a walkthrough here or there but for competitive it's just boring to be honest, even for a gamer

[@thersten]

I'd rather read your long ass comment than watch esports

[@angrygun7826]

well that's because you play the casual FPS call of duty lmao, no one ever wanted to watch those games because it just isn't impressive

[@panda_invention1810]

24:59

[@quyducdo9091]

How bad is this research lol? @.@

[@az55544]

What an absolute waste of focus and energy resources.

[@VICKYBAVAL]

Wtf Time for gym

[@OnPointFirearms]

Kid N Play some eSports.

[@privateprofile3517]

No mention of Dota in eSports buisness documentary, that's just poorly researched work bro.

[@Anonymous25491]

Go touch grass

[@huytran12345]

Overwatch league was a rushed mistake

[@OnPointFirearms]

I love the dude that "invested" three years in some lame ass game and has "trauma" over it being canceled. Peak stupidity.

[@despain8726]

Ehh… He doesn’t realize it but he’s not traumatized because the game got cancelled. He used that video game to cope with personal trauma and now his mind doesn’t know wtf to do. These people need psychiatrists and they use the internet to cope.

[@OnPointFirearms]

@@despain8726 good point. He definitely doesn't know how the world works. Sometimes shit doesn't pan out like you think it would. You have to pick up and move on. If anything, this is a good lesson for him to learn. Instead, it seems like he's going to invest more years into video games.

[@herorhim]

I would like you to imagine you having spent years of your life working on moving up a corporate ladder for a job that you love and put your whole heart into. Then, without any notice, you get fired, have zero income, and can no longer do what you love. That is traumatizing and upsetting to most people.

[@despain8726]

@@herorhim your first mistake is giving it your all for an employer. You never do that. You are a liability on the balance sheet with diminishing returns. It's very similar to hobbies, especially a hobby like video games. You do not rely on anyone else to dictate your happiness. If your hobby is contingent on whether or not someone else does something to your standards, you have to redefine your passion. A lot of people make this mistake and end up with nothing but regret on their death bed. Don't be that person.

[@BongLoy13]

imo metaverse games where investors are also players and where guilds are LOADED with cash will be the future of esport. Check out economic models such as Illuvium and the size of the cash prizes. They will organise those tournaments in the metaverse and will generate tons of money because they have low cost to organize them. Mark my words ☝️

[@bayunowoadi1042]

VICE is forcing too hard to enter gaming themes.

[@MinusTheCoffee]

Who came up with this load of garbage, this logic can be applied to almost any type of entertainment, some real boomer energy here. The lack of common knowledge and understanding of the esports scene in this is highly concerning. Usually vice do their due diligence but seems this topic is one they don’t quite understand

[@Jjjbbb5678]

Let me guess, you want a career in esports

[@laius6047]

@@Jjjbbb5678 good one. It's like crypto and nft guys. Trust me bro it's all good it's not Buble it's not shady, bro please just trust me I beg you bro

[@MinusTheCoffee]

Wdym it’s literally the same as any sport? Just has a different fan base 😂 why y’all so pressed,

[@zonemyparkour]

Vice really dropped their quality in last couple of years. Social correctness when choosing their journalists and them dabbing into themes they don't know enough is hard to even watch...

[@OnPointFirearms]

Come on. His Kid N Play haircut is charming.

[@joeschmoe4205]

@@OnPointFirearms I think those are 2 people.

[@OnPointFirearms]

@@joeschmoe4205 I know, but I forget which had that hair style. And I'm old so I also wanted to be specific for youngsters that perhaps wouldn't get the reference if I just said "Kid haircut."

[@sting6ph]

not all...they still same amazing journos. and they guy still have some good docs from time to time

[@richardsamueljordan1569]

Sucks that you can't hate gays and minorities the way you always did, huh?