Last Update on June 26th 2023
With the rise of the esports industry also comes the question of esports net worth. Currently, the industry is already valued in the billions, making it one of the most successful and lucrative industries out there.
With this in mind, it seems clear that esports companies, teams, and even individual players at the top of their games can be worth millions. The same can be said for the games themselves. It’s because of this that some argue the potential value of esports net worth could one day outstrip the value of some of the most popular traditional sports like football, basketball, and boxing.
With an ever growing fanbase, esports is still on an upwards trajectory. So, what is esports net worth in 2023? And how does that so far compare to traditional sports?
© The International
The esports industry’s overall evaluation in terms of net worth is pretty tricky to nail down. We need to consider the different aspects that make up the bulk of the money including streaming, gaming itself, and associated brand deals. However, a few decent market-wide esports net worth valuations are released every year. Looking at the one released by Newzoo, we can see that the global esports market is growing significantly. In 2019, NewZoo estimated the total revenue of the esports market would cross $1.1 billion for the first time.
Following this, the market saw immense growth going into 2020 with a 15% rise on the previous year. Beyond this, their estimate for 2021 was anticipating further year-on-year growth of 14.5%.
Unfortunately, Newzoo discontinued its coverage of esports in 2023, having ended its data partnerships with many esports companies. This has resulted in the future of esports being notably more unpredictable going forward. However, with the return of in person events, the projection of growth for the esports market from previous years reflects a growing interest in the topic in every sphere. Increasingly, their studies have pointed towards the metaverse and its continued growth for future potential in both games and esports.
Newzoo’s Global Esports Market Report 2019 estimated the revenue value of the esports market would reach $1.1 billion in 2019, up over 26% year-on-year. The same report included projections that the number of esports viewers will reach over 450 million, consisting of over 200 million esports “enthusiasts” and over 250 million “occasional” watchers.
It must be noted, however, that despite Newzoo’s estimated growth rates that saw the esports market generating $1.8 billion in revenue by 2022, the actual figure was $1.38 billion.
The last report also confirmed that mobile esports was growing quickly and consistently, especially in markets like Southeast Asia, India, and Brazil. This has definitely contributed to the growth in esports net worth and valuation, including the esports betting markets. Specifically, it is linked to another major area of growth for esports, the mobile competitive gaming market. Current estimates suggest that this could be worth up to $1.5 billion by itself by 2025.
Starting in 2021, there was one major factor casting a shadow over esports. Like most industries, esports wasn’t immune to the effects of coronavirus. However, unlike traditional sports, it was in a better position to handle things. While in-person events were canceled, online viewership for esports rose. Occasional viewership rose to 220.5 million, with 215.3 million dedicated fans.
This clearly showed a healthy appetite for competitive gaming. Even as in-person events have returned, viewing figures have remained impressive, showing that the increased interest was more than just a passing fad. Revenue from sponsorships at these live events remains high, even as in-person attendance has fluctuated.
Now in 2023, things are well and truly back to normal. Every major esports game from CS:GO to Dota 2 has returned to live events across the world. Despite this, the viewership numbers are only growing, even if at a reduced rate. The uncertainty of the pandemic period made the future unclear in so many ways. While the growth may plateau a little now that people are able to take part in other hobbies, the fact that it hasn’t fallen is a testament to the industry’s success.
One area where esports is seeing some great growth in 2023 is cryptocurrency. This could certainly be responsible for a lot of the growth in the esports industry’s net worth in 2022 and moving into 2023. Cryptocurrency has been around for a while but its increasing adoption has led to it being taken more seriously. You can now use cryptocurrency to purchase esports-related goods, attend games, and even bet on matches. There are a multitude of crypto betting sites out there on the market, with more being added every week. However, it isn’t just the consumer side that is being affected by cryptocurrency.
Entire esports teams have switched over to crypto as the primary way of running their businesses. This is one area where there’s a lot of room for growth. It’ll be interesting to see how cryptocurrency continues to affect esports’ net worth going into the future.
Cryptocurrency exchange platforms Coinbase and FTX are heralding the marriage between the industries, signing multi-year multi-million-dollar partnerships with both esports teams and league operators. Meanwhile, Fan Token and NFT platforms are actively creating unique content to develop fandom across the globe. These fan tokens could be a good contributor to esports net worth.
This area also ties into the growing developments with Web3.0 and NFTs. NFTs in gaming look like an area that will see even more growth than it did in 2022, with major publishers like Microsoft working on further integration in a metaverse with this technology. This is almost certainly going to have an effect on their esports, which are now a large part of the market with their acquisition of Activision Blizzard back in January 2022. This is a development fans have been keeping an eye on ever since the announcement.
Competitive gaming and esports are really more popular than it ever has been going into 2023. Companies such as Valve are expanding their involvement even further with the projected release of Counter-strike 2 meaning there’s a lot more to come from the esports industry. With esports revenue expected to grow, this is a great time to be looking towards competitive gaming.
BLAST Premier just renewed their partnership with Coinbase.
A Goldman Sachs report from late 2018 estimated the esports market would reach a total value of $3 billion by 2022. It pointed to Fortnite’s first-year prize pool of $1 million and streamer Ninja’s $1 million valuations, as well as the $90 million deal Activision Blizzard signed with Twitch for Overwatch as a way to justify the projection. However, it didn’t exactly pan out that way.
In the time since this report, these two specific games have both blown these deals away. Epic Games’ Fortnite plans have made a $1 million prize pool look modest. The Fortnite World Cup they held had a total prize pool of $30 million across the event, and this can’t be considered a top-tier prize pool when compared to the likes of Dota 2 even despite a significant drop in the total prize pool at The International in 2022. It included an individual prize for the Fortnite Solo winner, Kyle “Bugha” Geirsdorf. He walked away from the Fortnite World Cup with $3 million in prize money while just 16 years old.
The other game mentioned in this report was Overwatch, which has also exceeded its past heights for deals. While they previously signed a $90 million deal with Twitch, they would eventually move over to YouTube. Exclusivity with YouTube came at the price of $160 million. Overwatch and the Call of Duty League have both seen huge growth for that company since this report was written, contributing significantly to the hefty price tag of Activision from Microsoft.
© Mike Stobe | Getty Images
Despite all of this growth, the esports net worth did not hit the anticipated $3 billion in 2022. In fact, it fell a long way short of that. Many have cited the potential unsustainability of the esports industry in its current model and argued that changes are required if companies and fans alike want the trend to continue.
Fans of esports may see some huge changes coming to the industry that could include a pay-per-view structure for those who cannot attend events in person. While this has generally not been well received, other plans are lacking when it comes to the future of esports and ways to facilitate future growth.
It may seem like a lot of doom and gloom for the esports industry at this time but that doesn’t mean esports is coming to an end by any means. There are some areas of both growth and potential to watch. The first area for growth is the return of in-person events on a much wider scale. Some games were greatly affected by the absence of in person events that topped up their sponsorships and viewership numbers over the year. Now that this is no longer a problem, they should begin to see something of a resurgence.
Entire genres like fighting games struggled with the worldwide restrictions. But as more countries began to roll back restrictions and things began to get moving again, esports’ diversity of games bounced back. This is going to be an area to watch for the rest of the year and heading into 2024.
In terms of larger scale growth, Web3.0 and crypto offer great potential for gaming as a whole and esports. Groups like ESL are already talking about how they will integrate NFTs into their plans going forward.
It must be acknowledged that things aren’t all looking bright for esports net worth in 2023. There are a number of problems and challenges the industry is facing. The first would be if the industry can maintain its popularity with the return of wider options for sporting. However, things so far seem to point towards that not being a problem for too much longer because of the effort companies such as Valve are putting in to modernize and adapt their games.
Another area of concern is the increasing consolidation of the industry. An impressive number of esports franchises and games fell under a single company after 2022: Microsoft. Their acquisitions, alongside launching games like Halo, gave them an outsized market share of esports. We don’t currently know what their plans are for esports in the future, but increased consolidation in the hands of one company is definitely an area to keep an eye on for the future of esports.
To contrast with traditional sports, KPMG’s Football Benchmark compares the earnings of football club FC Barcelona which alone reported record revenue of the equivalent of nearly $1 billion for the 2018/2019 season, along with €855 million in 2019/2020.
If esports reached a $5 billion industry in the next five years, it would still only be equivalent in value to the top 15 teams in the English Premier League. However, that’s no mean feat, especially with the current trend of slower growth.
There is also the added problem for traditional sports that viewers, especially younger ones, are moving towards esports. A survey of young Americans found 75% of 21-35-year-olds said esports took them away from traditional sports patronage.
Players like Johan Sundstein (Notail) have earned $7 million playing Dota 2. Similar prize earnings can be found across titles like Fortnite, PUBG and CS:GO. These are staggering figures but don’t quite touch what teams and organizations make.
Cloud9 has been the most valuable esports team since 2018, reaching a $350 million valuation according to CNBC and Forbes in 2022. In comparison, the highest value traditional sports team is the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys worth $5 billion, but in fairness, the team was established 59 years ago.
For game developers, owners, and their parent companies, China’s Tencent topped the revenue charts with 2018 earnings of $8.3 billion in 2019. In 2023, they have a 411.99 billion yuan market cap. Activision Blizzard, with Overwatch as its best-selling game, generated $3.5 billion in revenue in 2018 but then a massive $6.49 billion in revenue during 2019, followed by $8.1 billion in 2020. This was partially boosted by the success of games like Warzone. These huge companies definitely add to the total esports net worth.
For esports only companies, valuations are just as impressive. A Saudi-backed group just this year bought ESL, the esports organizer, for $1 billion. This is pretty impressive, especially just for a platform and not the game behind it.
While 2020 and 2021 weren’t the biggest years for a lot of esports companies, the market showed strong resilience to the downturn of COVID-19. This bodes well now that the industry is almost fully recovered in 2023. Compared to similar industries, gaming is estimated to have grown by 9.3% in 2019, 12% in 2020 and 15% in 2021, in comparison to traditional sports. While esports has their ticket sales contract, traditional sports like the Premier League saw a decrease over the same period.
We’re updating this article from one published in 2022. As the esports industry matures new opportunities and spin-off revenue generators are appearing.
Since the first publication, Astralis Group became the first esports team to publicly list and sell its shares on the stock markets. As we moved into 2020, many companies began to realize the potential stock of esports markets. It’s now possible for investors to hedge their bets buying shares in esports teams and companies as well as game publishers. Legendary stock market investors like George Soros aren’t missing out on the esports stocks opportunity either, he put $45 million into Activision Blizzard stocks in 2019.
Players and fans can take a different kind of gamble on esports too. Online bookmakers are increasingly offering esports bets. There are also many fantasy leagues. Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies are offering a secure and transparent esports crypto betting These companies and gambling companies are all looking to engage Millennials and Generation Z. These are all big contributors to esports net worth and the total esports industry worth in 2023.
© Astralis
At the time of writing, the tragic and troubling impact of the coronavirus is easing off around the world. Traditional sporting events, leagues and tournaments have returned to live audiences and esports events have followed suit. Regardless, esports has managed to show more resilience than any other industry in dealing with challenges.
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