Brazilian soccer legend Ronaldo has recently invested in an e-sports professional game. Ronaldo, along with professional poker player Andre Akkari, bought a 50% stake in CNB e-Sports Club in Brazil. The CNB Club, founded in 2001, has been active in the online games 'Counter Strike' and 'League of Legends'.
The e-sports market is expanding with computer games. This is because investment trends continue to grow globally as high growth potential is highlighted.
According to SuperData, market researcher on the 3rd, the global e-sports market was estimated to be $ 890 million, up 20% from 2015 . In 2019, sales are estimated at 1.23 billion dollars (about 1.41 trillion won). It is predicted that it will increase by about 40% over the next three years.
The e-sports fan base is also becoming thicker. The LoL World Championship, a major e-sports event, has a cumulative audience of 396 million last year. This is an increase of 62 million people (19%) from the previous year. LoL is the most popular e-sports team in the world (121). The developer, Riot Games, operates an e-sports league in 13 regions around the world.
'Soccer king ' Ronaldo invested in e-sports
As e-sports market is expected to grow continuously, various entities are investing. Europe's top sports clubs have invested in e-sports competitively since last year. Manchester City, West Ham United, Valencia and PSG are all active in professional football. They are establishing e-sports clubs with prominent players such as console game 'FIFA' series and online game 'League of Legends' (LoL).
Shaquille O'Neal, Rick Fox, Jonas Yerebko and other former NBA professional stars have also invested in the LoL. It is an example of the fact that the interest of the sports industry people is focusing on e-sports.
◇ Domestic Infrastructure and Related Industry Investment = In Korea, investment is mainly focused on infrastructure such as game broadcasting. Last year, Nexon invested in Loud Communications, which specializes in broadcasting production and business of sports game channel 'Sportive Games'.
The two companies are planning to expand their e-sports leagues for Nexon games and expand their promotions using overseas e-sports broadcasting platforms, such as North America and China, which are affiliated with Loud Communications. It is a strategy to utilize e-sports ecosystem to lead Nexon games to box-office games and secure e-sports competitiveness. Kim Se-hwan, CEO of Nexon e-Sports said, "Since the e-sports market is expected to continue to grow, we are striving to build a solid structure from the lower leagues to the upper leagues. "He said.
Personal broadcasting platform African TV is aggressively investing in e-sports this year. We will increase the league and the number of matches, and will make various e-sports contents production and support. Currently, African TV is running and relaying e-sports leagues such as 'StarCraft' series and 'LoL'.
Condo Company, which is engaged in e-sports based entertainment business, invests directly in e-sports clubs. He has aggressively created and acquired e-sports teams including online games 'LoL', 'Over Watch' and 'Haas Stone'. To strengthen its multi-channel network (MCN) business, Condo Company not only attracts e-sports players, but also coaches, commentators and castors.
