Industry Overview
ESports (also known as eSports) is a professional video game (professional game), a form of competition that uses electronic games. Most commonly, eSports takes the form of organized multiplayer video game competitions, especially among professional gamers. The most common types of video games related to eSports are real-time strategy, fighting, first-person shooter (FPS), and multiplayer online battlefields (MOBA). International Championships, League of Legends World Championships, Evolution Championship Series, and Intel Extreme Masters tournaments provide participants with live matches and cash rewards. The number of spectators at these events has increased substantially. The multi-billion-dollar eSports investment that caught our attention is the continued rise of large Asian investors: South Korea, Hong Kong, China, and Japan. And in the United States and Canada, investing millions of dollars in eSports and marking it as future sports, it was possible to defeat the FIFA World Cup in 2018; as the most popular sport globally. Here, we try to let you understand how Nigeria is aligned with this innovative sports trend worldwide. Let’s look at some key aspects to determine whether eSports is taking off in Nigeria.
Awareness and Public Interest
In Nigeria, eSports is usually a by-product of football display centers and sports betting shops, where amateur gamers play the FIFA Play Stations (PSP) series. We have not yet seen the field of eSports where professionals compete in multiplayer fighting series. Still, IT organizations in Nigeria and across Africa realize the world of eSports, where full offline matches are becoming more frequent. IT schools interested in getting students to participate in platforms they admire and support their tech-savvy gaming skills are bringing in teams to participate in local competitions. The stakeholders of Nigerian eSports want to allow students to enter the IT industry after graduating from high school. Maybe they can enter computer programming. League of Legends is a multiplayer online battlefield, trendy, with about 90 million people worldwide. At least 150,000 [1] of the people who play it are in Nigeria. Compare it with the country’s national football team, the Super Eagles.
There are only 11 players. Last year, 500,000 Nigerians [1] watched the World Championship online. ESports is a career choice for many young Nigerians. It is observed that many students are enthusiastic about games in Nigeria and other parts of Africa, which is very interesting and may pay off in the future.
Media Interest
ESports is a digital game that millennials prefer to play, so we don’t want to see more news in major media such as newspapers, radio, and even terrestrial television. News and analysis. DSTV is broadcasting eSports events on its sports channel, and its mainland competitor Kwese tv is doing the same. Dstv and Kwese tv currently cover pay-tv viewers in Nigeria. In Kenya, Zuku Tv provides a dedicated eSports channel. Those who play eSports games in Nigeria can start here, and the future of gamers is brighter than ever. [1]
Infrastructures
ESports strives to connect online viewers to the Internet from all over the world in real-time. It is estimated that over 500,000 fans in Nigeria watched the latest and most popular eSports game-League of Legends. But the challenge is that Nigeria’s Internet quality is shocking compared to the best eSports countries in Africa. In terms of infrastructure investment, Nigeria is still catching up with other countries. As we said before, we have not yet seen the eSports arena where professionals compete in the multiplayer fighting series. [1]
The Future
Nigeria’s eSports promoters feel very honoured to participate in eSports in the region and go to this day. The host started to attract young eSports players and establish contact with the school to show educators the benefits of pursuing a career in the game. Several of its players will join professional teams in Europe and receive full salaries, which only shows how eSports will become a major event in the future. Nigeria needs an official eSports management agency, the Nigerian ESports Association (NeSA), to pursue its development and realize its full potential. In terms of the market, it has always been a country with a significant impact on the global landscape. However, eSports allows these Passionate countries to become huge players on the world stage. Investors’ participation will be rewarded, and Nigeria will become the seventh most populous country on earth in 2020. This means that if you can use eSports to capture people’s imagination, especially millennials, Nigeria will be in a unique position to have a significant impact on the eSports market. [1]
Market Size
The global eSports market is rapidly expanding. Market intelligence company NewZoo predicts that this year’s global revenue will grow to 2.1 billion U.S. dollars. The total number of viewers will increase to 495 million, a year-on-year increase of 11.7%. Global broadcasting revenue is expected to reach 18.2 million U.S. dollars, rising 33% over 2021, but it may now be even higher given the pandemic. [2]
References
- : Mordor Intelligence, African Gaming Market Analysis, 2021.
- : NewZoo, Newzoo’s Global ESports & Live Streaming Market, 2021.