StarCraft II was the game that got me into esports and I've wanted to do an esports startup for some time. Thing is, it takes a lot of money and effort to get local tournaments going; plus I'm...
StarCraft II was the game that got me into esports and I've wanted to do an esports startup for some time. Thing is, it takes a lot of money and effort to get local tournaments going; plus I'm sure my city doesn't have much of a competitive gaming scene. One bar near the city centre hosted a gaming evening and about 10 people showed up to play. The only games being played were Soul Calibur VI, Street Fighter II and Goldeneye. It was a Sunday though and a lot of the audience it catered to would have had to come in for work at 9am the next morning.
Another thing I learned is to watch out for licensing regulations. For example: If I ever do this startup, I would never host a Blizzard game. Their community tournament licenses absolutely cripple any local event's way to break even or turn profitable. This is because:
Compensation from any online broadcast or streaming platform is limited to $100,000. Unless you're a really big channel, it's very unlikely you'll be making anywhere near as much from stream revenue. It also makes it difficult starting out because you won't have the viewership or the consistent streaming hours to get a Twitch or Mixer partnership.
You cannot charge spectators in any way to watch your event, whether through online paywalling, premium HD streams or through charging entry fees to attend the event.
If you charge an entry fee to participate, the prize pool must be at least equal to the combined value of the entrance fees paid by players. This ensures that you cannot mark up the entry fees at all.
If you break these terms, Blizzard can very easily blacklist your IP from their servers and effectively shut down the event. This is why they pulled LAN support from StarCraft II. Or if they don't notice in time, they could send their legion of lawyers to sue your ass.
Sponsors are heavily limited. Your event cannot be sponsored by any companies that promote porn, alcohol, tobacco, smoking, firearms, gambling, or any company detrimental to Blizzard's business like gold websites, key resellers, etc. I can kinda understand the ban on porn and the companies detrimental to Blizzard's operations, but alcohol, firearms and tobacco are some big sponsors in regular sports.
StarCraft II was the game that got me into esports and I've wanted to do an esports startup for some time. Thing is, it takes a lot of money and effort to get local tournaments going; plus I'm sure my city doesn't have much of a competitive gaming scene. One bar near the city centre hosted a gaming evening and about 10 people showed up to play. The only games being played were Soul Calibur VI, Street Fighter II and Goldeneye. It was a Sunday though and a lot of the audience it catered to would have had to come in for work at 9am the next morning.
Another thing I learned is to watch out for licensing regulations. For example: If I ever do this startup, I would never host a Blizzard game. Their community tournament licenses absolutely cripple any local event's way to break even or turn profitable. This is because: