Careers in Esports
- gianlubeer
- Feb 17, 2023
- 12 min read
Updated: Jun 12, 2023
What Does it Mean? What Are They?
Overview
Electronic sports, or Esports for short, are the video game equivalent to sports tournaments. Either individually or in teams, the elite and select few often gather at the top of their field to compete for prizes, fame, glory, and recognition. After all, who doesn't want to be the very best?
However, there is more to Esports than simply playing the game. As the popularity of the genre rises, Esports organizations have focused more in the supporting roles that allow the top players of any competitive game to showcase their talent on the world stage.
Table of contents:
1. What careers are available in Esports?
From social media management, community management in the social and community aspect, to streaming, casting, coaching, tournament organization and administration, and even with involvement in marketing, journalism, business & industry, and talent management, there are many other ways to get involved with the rising world of Esports than simply playing the game.
In this article we will look at a few options -though not all of them- for opportunities to start and progress a career in Esports, starting with the most renowned option: Gaming.
2. Gaming: for the very select few.
If you have ever looked at clips of any competitive game, you've seen them in one regard or another. Clips of Félix "xQc" Lengyel playing in the Overwatch League. Matthew "supertf" DeLisi being invited to the Jimmy Fallon show. Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok dominating yet another World Series' finals. Michael "Shroud" Grzesiek taking down enemy after enemy on stage.
While it is for the very select few, being at the top of the world is something that Esports and traditional sports have in common. Each game sees the very elite come together every year, often multiple times a year, to compete in tournaments for money, fame, and glory. However, this requires not only dedication, hard work, and discipline, but also innate talent. It is not something everyone can aspire to do for a living, and many careers are cut short before they even begin.
Despite the low rate of success (the percentage of people who can live off of playing a game professionally is infinitesimal in comparison to the number of people who play said game), pursuing a career at the top of any Esport remains the dream of any gamer. After all, who wouldn't like to be at the very top?
Still, there are some alternatives to professional gaming careers, such as applying at your local college or university's program (which could result in a scholarship) or joining an amateur team which sometimes can arrange sponsorships and brand deals. There is also often a 'path to pro' or "second tier" division to the main League in any Esport, and those are sometimes paid, or sometimes can pay if the team wins a tournament.
Some applicable skills for gaming include: talent, hard work and dedication, but also the correct mindset and resilience; being a professional player takes a lot of time and puts players under a huge spotlight.
However, a pro career is not the only path to make a living while playing the game (or games) you love. Another option has gained a lot of traction in recent years: Creating content.
3. Creating content: hard work and luck.
Creating content and streaming has become a trend in recent years, with many people attempting to kickstart a career by broadcasting themselves live on Twitch.tv, or creating an account on YouTube.com in an attempt to create both an audience and also a community. However, content creation is a difficult task: not only does it require consistency in both upload and/or stream schedules, and dedication to investing several hours a day both in streaming but also editing, uploading, and managing social media (as having an online presence is an essential part of streaming and forming a community), as well as talent for comedy, gaming, or another feature that could attract an audience, but it also requires a healthy amount of luck.
Managing to make a career off of streaming or content creation requires to have been at the right place, at the right time. A clip that manages to go viral, a moment shared with a more renowned streamer, or the algorithm of the platform deciding to favor you, there is no streamer whose career wasn't affected by fortune. Certainly, there are people whose charisma, talent, and personality can help draw others in, but not even the most charismatic people can manage to attract an audience if they are not being broadcast.
In the end, making a career out of content creation comes down to being at the right place at the right time, having contacts in the right circles, or landing the perfect moment to achieve virality, as well as having the talent and consistency to retain the audience's attention. Be it streaming live on Twitch or YouTube, creating content for social media such as TikTok or Instagram, or any of the other available platforms that allow creators to share their content, all the variants of content creation are not entirely up to you, but the hard work and consistency are not negotiable no matter your level of success!
Some applicable skills for content creation include: perseverance, talent for gaming and/or comedy, being able to entertain people, social media management, and consistency in one's schedule.
4. Running Gaming Organizations.
Directly related to streaming are gaming organizations such as Team Liquid, TSM, 100 Thieves, Cloud 9 or FaZe. These organizations have the goal of nurturing Esports, both within their field and outside of it, and thus are always looking for talent to join their ranks. Not only do they employ content creators and professional gamers to gather fans and win tournaments, but there are also a number of jobs within the organization themselves that are essential to every community. Some of these jobs include managing the organization's space, such as Administrators and Community Managers, or leading the organization's social media campaigns, designing graphics, or marketing decisions. Some organizations might even require people to run tournaments for them, such as event managers, tournament organizers, referees, and spectators...
Truly, organizations are run similarly to that of other sports: they are businesses, and as such, they require people to both help keep the public's attention, as well as help their finances grow. To this end, marketing, sponsorships, business deals, advertising, and merchandising are essential.
It is worth noting that not all organizations are run by big companies, some are created with just the goodwill and hard work of their owners and grow from nothing to become their own community. The smaller organizations often center around a single game, fielding multiple teams, or multiple games, fielding a single team, and don't often do brand deals or sponsorships until they've managed to grow.
Now, every organization wants to have multiple teams and be able to participate in events for multiple games. However, that would not be possible without staff to help guide and grow all of the organization's teams, coordinate scrimmages (practice matches), manage the players and enable each and every player on a team so that they can be at their best.
5. Team managers:
A Team Manager is the one in charge, vying to make sure teams run effectively within an organization. They are the first contact for the team, make sure to coordinate players' schedules and arrange scrimmages and practice matches, as well as often signing a team up for a tournament, making sure the rules are followed and that the team is on time. Not always a paid job, team managers are a great entry-point to an organization. Some applicable skills include social skills, organization, teamwork, and punctuality.
6. Team coaches:
A team's season can really greatly depend on how skilled the team's coach is. From game knowledge to interpersonal skills, as well as the ability to transmit knowledge quickly and efficiently, a coach can really make or break a season. While the job is often divided at the top of Esports Leagues, with Head Coaches, Assistant Coaches, Individual Coaches, Data Analysts, and even Team Psychologists making up the team's supporting staff, in minor organizations or smaller teams a single person might end up having to do all of those jobs. It is very important that a coach can both multitask and also prioritize the correct task, as well as know the game they are coaching, get involved with the players on a humane level and be able to communicate directly.
7. Community managers and administrators: Leading a community.
Any organization requires a community, big or small, niche or mainstream. No matter whether you have a question, a concern, an issue, or are simply looking for something you can't find, community staff are always there to help. From Administrators to Managers, communities always need people to guide them, keep rules in effect, help everyone thrive, and to enforce the community's values.
These people help keep the community alive, which in turn allows organizations to have a bigger impact and make impression on the audience at large. As an industry, organizations would see no profits without being able to amass a following.
Often, a Community Manager's responsibilities include posting announcements and updates relevant to the community, often through graphics, information or the organization's preferred platform - such as a Discord server; coordinating the talent in order to more directly impact the fans, answer questions about the organization, resolve any issues that might arise within the community and, in general, keeping people happy with how the organization is being handled as well as reporting the impact of the organization's events, tournaments and campaigns in the community to the owners/administrators.
Applicable skills for Community Managers include: social & communication skills, a creative mind, copywriting ability, organization, data analysis, and teamwork skills.
8. Social media managers: The heart of the organization's media impact.
Be it a banner, a profile picture, a player announcement, or the result of a match or a tournament, everything requires time and effort. Social Media Managers often have to keep up with trends, memes and current topics, but also news, updates, results, tournaments and more. Balancing the humor, responsibility and fidelity to an organization's brand image is no easy task, but SMMs often find themselves helping increase the reach and impact of any organization.
Social Media platforms are a huge part of esports - not only via Twitch and YouTube as mentioned earlier, but also Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, etc. The number of people following the organization's accounts, interactions and visibility of an organization can be directly translated into sponsorship opportunities, brand deals, and merchandising sales.
It is important that any Social Media Manager sets realistic, achievable short- and long-term goals for the growth of the organization online, as well as being able to look at the data, trends, and information to help grow the media channels in general.
Some applicable skills are: copywriting, marketing (traditional and digital), communication, creativity, research, design & graphics, and analytics.
Social Media Managers are often also an organization's go-to when it comes to art and graphics, but not always. Sometimes, especially when it comes to bigger organizations, the brand can hire a talented artist to dedicate themselves to it, making graphics, drawings, layouts, and any other art project required.
9. Artists and graphic designers.
Graphics & design in general are the life of any organization. Nowadays, any social media post, any announcement, be it a new player joining a team or the result of a tournament game, often falls flat if there is no visual indication of the information that is being transferred.
Be it as simple as a quick doodle to hype up a team during a match, an intricate or complex piece to adorn a tournament championship, or the skill to put out multiple graphics, banners, announcements, and social media posts in quick succession, as well as creating templates to make it all easier, all of it is very important to accompany an organization's growth and strengthen its position in the public eye.
When it comes to applicable skills, the most obvious one is artistic talent, but organizational skills, template creation, research, multitasking & quick work can also go a long way.
10. Tournaments: Organization, roles, and jobs within the event.
Be it an online event or a LAN, live event, all tournaments are opportunities to qualify for a new job. Tournaments always require a large number of people to run cohesively. Here is a short list with a few roles and what they do:
Organizers: they establish the ruleset and make sure it's followed, coordinate teams and players, brackets, organize results and rounds, and are available live during the event to help solve any issues that might arise and answer any questions people may have. Some applicable skills include social skills, organization and communication. Also, since a lot of tournaments are international, knowing more than one language can be a huge advantage when vying for these positions!
LAN attendants: if an event is being held live, then even more people are required to help make sure it runs smoothly. Attendants often manage the set-ups for players, coordinate with the casting & streaming crew, help fix any issues that might arise with set-up and help coordinate the audience so that the experience is as best as it can be.
Outside of the tournament in and of itself, there are also people who help make the event's broadcast as good as it can be.
Match casters: they are the ones you hear when you tune into the broadcast of any sport, of any game. They commentate on the game, explain what is happening clearly and directly and, much more importantly, help both attract and entertain the audience. Casters usually benefit from skills in communication, radio knowledge, being able to speak clearly and directly to the audience, as well as a sense for comedy, timing, and teamwork (as casters are often set in pairs).
Spectators: Spectators are the ones following the action in-game that the Casters are commenting on. They need an acute knowledge of both the game they're spectating as well as an innate sense of timing for when a big play is about to happen, being able to follow not only particular players but also particular points of interest within a game. Spectators mostly require experience and knowledge of the game they are streaming and of Esports in general.
The Spectators' feed and the Casters' broadcast is combined through the Broadcast crew, who often also take one of the roles above in minor organizations. The Broadcast crew chooses which spectator's point of view to use at a particular time, and handles the delay with the Casters' audio, as well as overlays, advertising blocks, results, updates, pauses, breaks, and often chat/community moderation. Experience in streaming, people skills, organization and multitasking are all good tools to apply to this job, and knowledge of streaming programs and platforms is also very helpful.
Now, we wanted to close by including mention of some more 'traditional' jobs that can also be found in Esports, especially in higher tier organizations, but also often spread throughout the world of Esports in general, participating in communities, or simply helping from the sidelines. After all, anyone can have a true love and passion for gaming, no matter their career, current job, preferences, and studies!
11. Web designers:
Web Designers are a necessity for any organization, team, event, tournament, or league. No matter what, people won't be able to find and follow a project if it's not present on the internet, and having a strong web designer can really help bring any event to life, with a creative outlook, tools to guide an audience's interest in the project, convey information in an interesting fashion, and often also set-up a merchandise store to help an organization fund their costs.
12. Software engineers:
Not only are Software Engineers necessary for the creation of games, but also often tools for the spectating and data analysis of any game, the creation of apps that allow you to keep up with your favorite teams, live results and transfers, Fantasy Esports... Apps, programs and platforms all come in handy, not to mention they help create the games we all love and obsess over!
13. Sales and partnership managers:
Sales and Partnership Managers are responsible for generating revenue for an organization, be it via the promotion and sales of merchandise, by working out brand deals and sponsorships, or by helping develop partnerships. From sales pitches to professional relationships and contacts, having a good Sales or Partnership Manager can put a team on the green, financially speaking.
You can also study how to crush sponsorships in our article about it!
14. Travel agents:
When an event is being held live, in LAN format, the biggest organizations will always require travel. This means coordination, tickets, booking, sometimes lodging, all of it done efficiently, as well as fixing any inconveniences that might arise. Big organizations often work with Travel Agents to get all of their teams where they need to be quickly and smoothly.
15. Gaming journalist:
It is, after all, an important job to keep the public informed about the ongoings of organizations, events, tournaments, teams, players, and games in general! Becoming more popular by the day, Gaming Journalists occupy a necessary niche in their community, helping increase the reach and impact of any news while also sharing their opinion and point of view on particular topics.
15. Business professionals:
Lawyers, Accountants, Human Resources, IT, Finances, Managers, Analysts: they might all seem like jobs that don't fit in with the world of Esports, but every major organization has a fleet of Business Professionals helping them run things. From the legality of any event, employee, or opportunity, to the management of every person working within the organization, as well as making sure they are all getting paid, on time, that no conflict is arising, that taxes are paid, that the organization isn't losing money... Everyone has a role in gaming!
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