What are the areas which stand to benefit from a continued boom in eSports & where are the largest existing & potential markets

by WhenImTryingToHide

• THE GAME DEVELOPERS

The people who make the games themselves that people compete in will clearly be the benefactors of these trends. The challenge here is that the people who make traditional games may not be the same people that make the games that fuel eSports and even game streaming. But some names to consider which have a proven track record and resource to both develop and support these games would probably include

• Activision Blizzard
• Tencent
• Microsoft
• Sony
• Take Two

 

• WHERE WILL PEOPLE WATCH eSPORTS?

eSports is only going to continue to get larger and larger. As the audience grows, so will the need to watch games, tournaments, athletes etc. Just as in days gone, sources like espn, Fox Sports, etc flourish by serving as the source for esports content, what are the sources for eSports content going to be? As of right now a few come to mind to me (open to suggestions from others)

• Twitch
• Facebook
• Youtube
• Huya (China)
• DouYu (China)

It doesn’t seem like traditional media has a clue as yet as to the shift thats taking place. ESPN has been tipping their toe, but from what I see, the results are poor so far.

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• WHERE IS THE LARGEST MARKET & GROWTH

This one is fairly simple, China has the largest existing market, and the fastest growing market. A quick search for research papers, or a look at esc.watch will give you an idea of the kind of numbers we’re talking about. The growth of video streaming, and in particular video game streaming in China has been huge over the last 3 years and shows very little sign of slowing down (even with the new videogame license ban in place in China). Anyone who is, or is looking to invest in China will tell you that there are some significant risks / considerations to keep in mind when investing in China, especially with today’s climate. Trade risks with the USA, Govt. regular or outright bans in China, the VIE structure of ADRs, and I’m sure others. But the potential is undeniable, and both american and Chinese companies are seeing this. So, look at companies like

• Tencent
• Huya
• DouYu (if they IPO)

Then we have other ideas like

• Who makes the hardware that will be used in eSports ? (the Nike or Addidas per say) ?
  • AMD?
  • NVIDIA?
  • HEAR?
  • Microsoft?
  • Sony?

 

 

 

Disclaimer: Consult your financial professional before making any investment decision.