Esports Career – How to get a job in the esports industry

Do you dream of being a professional gamer? Do you want to know how to get into an esports job? What can you do if you want to be part of the esports world, but lack the gaming skills or don’t want to put in the hours of intense practice? Thankfully, the esports industry offers plenty of jobs for those who want to get closer to the action, but don’t want to compete full time.

As the esports industry is expected to hit the $1 billion mark in the next couple of years, it’s no real surprise to find that there’s a massive range of esports careers available for people who want to take competitive gaming to the next level. From being a key part in what happens in esports tournaments, to playing an important role behind the scenes. The competitive industry is actively looking for talented, disciplined, and flexible individuals who are keen to show their love of esports and get a job in professional gaming.

© Lionel Bonaventure | Getty Images

We’ll outline some of the most commonly seen esports jobs that have been advertised in this new industry and highlight some of the key skills and attributes necessary to gain these gaming roles. Esports jobs can be as exciting as going head to head in a CS:GO or LoL match. A career in esports can help you celebrate the competitive gaming phenomenon and take part in one of the world’s fastest growing industries.

Using your esports expertise immediately and sharing your love of esports

As esports is a relatively new phenomenon, it’s no surprise to find that there’s a real lack of competitive gaming experts out there. This means that there are plenty of careers in esports for enterprising individuals who can articulate what’s really going on in the esports world so that everyone can enjoy the fun.

There’s always a call for content creation with many esports sites seeking writers who can cover news stories from the latest games tournaments. Plus, there’s plenty of scope for budding journalists to conduct interviews, in-depth features and investigative pieces on esports players and teams that haven’t yet been put under the spotlight. Get started by writing your own esports blog and make sure to share your original content.

Don’t forget that the visual aspect of esports plays a huge part, so don’t be afraid of getting in front of the camera either. Streaming channels like Twitch.tv have become an essential part of the esports scene, so if you are good with words and want to share your expertise, think about becoming a caster or host of esports. You can get plenty of practice by setting up your own Twitch or YouTube Gaming channel and follow the many successful esports commentators who have carved their own careers by doing it themselves.

There is also a growing demand for tournament administrators who are able to understand the rules and regulations of an esports competition. This will require plenty of diplomatic skills and the ability to cope in some seriously high-pressure circumstances.

© Riot Games

Types of jobs in the esports industry

Esports journalism and professional streaming and blogging

As we mention, you can begin to share your passion for esports and your knowledge immediately. You can stream content, create your own blog, or even start writing for popular gaming sites. Many gaming sites are always on the lookout for skilled writers with in-depth gaming and tournament knowledge. You can quickly find esports writing jobs online. It’s possible to progress amateur writing and blogging to professional esports journalism, writing for the esports industry full time, or becoming a professional streamer and gaming content creator. Esports teams and other esports companies hire their own content creators to cover their players or gaming niche. This could be written content, but in a very visual industry this is just as likely to be video or graphics content. Some make a full-time wage in video editing and production alone.

Esports marketing jobs

Marketing is a huge part of the growing esports industry. Though esports is a niche that’s almost grown solely from gamers’ love of playing, today marketing games, tournaments, esports content, esports websites, and esports merchandise is a full-time job in esports for many.

You could become a freelance esports marketer, do social media marketing online, or get a full-time esports marketing job with an esports company. There is of course a cross-over between esports writing, journalism, streaming, and esports marketing. A career with an esports company could encompass all these things.

The massive revenue opportunity of esports for companies means these organizations are investing what can be millions of dollars into marketing their brands. Big esports companies will have full time PR executives, or you could work freelance in esports PR to get coverage for many different esports companies.

Sharing your love of gaming through esports marketing

Whilst anybody can enjoy playing esports, not everyone is skilled enough to communicate the joy of esports to the world. This is why there’s a real hunt for people with marketing skills who can quickly articulate why a certain esports product could be of interest to a particular audience.

Getting started with your marketing career in esports will see you having to get an excellent basic grasp of creating share-worthy social media content. Having an awareness of search engine optimisation is critical too. Whilst many esports organisations now have their own PR and marketing divisions, it’s also true that some like to use external agencies. Although marketing is a fiercely competitive field, if you are able to demonstrate that you have an unbeatable knowledge of the esports realm and a real understanding for how to communicate an attractive message to a particular audience, you will already be a step ahead of the competition.

Esports sales managers

Like marketing, sales is critical to the burgeoning esports industry. Some typical professional careers in esports include sales managers, sales executives, and partnerships managers. These jobs in esports could focus on ticket sales, gaining sponsorship agreements for key esports brands, selling esports hardware, growing fan bases and subscriptions and generally anything likely to make money for an esports company. Sales jobs in esports can have a full-time wage with commission or be just salaried or commission based.

Esports agents

Like traditional sports agents and even music industry agents, esports agents will represent upcoming and professional esports players. An agent will represent a player, gain placements, partnerships, sponsorships, and other opportunities. Agents usually work on a commission basis with their players. You might even be lucky enough to score a full-time esports career with an established esports agency.

Tournament production, media, and broadcasting

Ever been to an esports tournament? Take a look at the people running around behind the scenes staging scenes, filming, managing the audience and content coverage. Media specialists might perform lighting or camera work, they might also manage sound equipment, esports hardware, streaming setups, large screens, projectors and more.

Lawyers and finance experts for the esports industry

As esports gets bigger and bigger the need for specialized roles will grow. There are legalities to tournaments, representing players, producing contracts and many other formal matters. It could be you have studied a general law qualification but have a wealth of knowledge in the esports industry that could enable you to specialize here. It’s a similar story for financial experts, advisors and accountants. There is big money in esports, and experts are needed to manage the finances of companies and players. Many esports companies have begun small, only to grow exponentially. Esports companies and teams are already listed or are planning on listing on major stock exchanges and selling their esports stocks as investments, professionals are needed to help them achieve this.

How to get into esports jobs

Though there may be esports careers available to you purely through your knowledge and passion for esports, such as writing, gaming, and streaming these roles will take serious dedication. The more dedication to esports you demonstrate the more successful you are likely to be.

You might have skills or qualifications that can be applied to the esports industry. You could be an expert in law, sales, finance, media production, video editing etc with a passion and knowledge for the industry that will mean you can apply for jobs in esports today. In such a new industry, years of industry expertise is rare so companies will be hiring people with transferable skills.

There is now also the option to get into an esports career by studying esports and gaming in school, college, and university. With gaming now an official sport in many educational establishments you can even look for an esports scholarship or be spotted as the next professional gamer while you are at school or college. Universities across the globe are offering esports degrees or degrees with esports specialisms and placements built in.

Today, there are a multitude of opportunities to develop an esports career whether you already have experience or are starting from scratch. If you are really brave you can launch your own esports business or consider other ways to make money from esports. And of course, you could still become a professional gamer.

Opportunity for everyone in esports

There are also many jobs that aren’t directly involved in esports but are just as important. Anybody who has ever been to one of the big esports tournaments will know just how much work goes into these epic events, and there is plenty of call for event organisers who are able to ensure that things go smoothly. These kinds of jobs often have fairly unsociable hours, but they can be incredibly rewarding and are a great choice for those who like getting out and about.

Don’t forget no one would be able to enjoy watching esports at home if there wasn’t a legion of software engineers who are able to use their technical know-how into helping everything from a live stream to the actual game itself run smoothly. Careers in gaming and game development are just as popular as jobs in esports.

There are already many thousands of people of assisting with anything from accounts and product management, to hospitality and customer service. There is plenty of opportunity for everyone in the esports industry.

Read also: Has transitioning esport careers after “Going Pro” become any easier?