Much of esports is built on fundamentally unsustainable sources. The low-knowledge investors, wealthy enthusiasts, crypto scams, money laundering, sports washing, etc that contribute so much of this industry's funding aren't long-term paths to sustainability, they're frantic jumps between life rafts - ThreadSky

ultradavid.bsky.social • 1 day ago

Much of esports is built on fundamentally unsustainable sources. The low-knowledge investors, wealthy enthusiasts, crypto scams, money laundering, sports washing, etc that contribute so much of this industry's funding aren't long-term paths to sustainability, they're frantic jumps between life rafts

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jackmott.bsky.social•17 hours ago

also sports

icetweiz.bsky.social•20 hours ago

I'm still waiting for FaZe's downfall

ultradavid.bsky.social•1 day ago

Legit investors mostly got fleeced & fled. Most regular-wealthy enthusiasts & sports washers have lost money or interest. Crypto scams have mostly fizzled. Money launderers have been kicked out of many spaces. So the unsustainable parts of esports keep needing to find new ways to stay afloat

ultradavid.bsky.social•1 day ago

Keep this in mind when you see so much of esports partnering with the SPIF. It's a wealthy enthusiast/sports washer that won't run out of money, an investor that won't need profit. But it's no more sustainable long-term than other sources. It'll only ever be an autocratic whim away from vanishing

ultradavid.bsky.social•1 day ago

So far the closest to long-term sustainability esports has seen is as in game/rights holder marketing or grassroots volunteerism. But even then, rights holder marketing for any individual game can only last so long & load-bearing TOs can only volunteer so many 100s of hours for free or close to it

babykelp.bsky.social•1 day ago

I dont know the specifics (licensing deals, etc) with broodwar in south korea but that shit has remained pretty stable for a long time now (after sc2, bw returning to regular seasonal tournaments tho idk if they are on tv these days). so at least there's one (1) positive example

ultradavid.bsky.social•1 day ago

The fundamental tension of esports is that the games on which we want to base our long-term industry structures are, business-wise, just temporary widgets we don't own in product cycles we don't control. Phrased like this imo it's easy to see why marketing & grassroots have come closest to long-term

ultradavid.bsky.social•1 day ago

Part of why I'm happy to work w ten/o is that we're one of the few businesses in all of esports that gets this. Our clients incl rights holders doing marketing, grassroots events we're not gouging, our own merch, etc. Nothing lasts forever but it's as good a strategy as there is in this business imo

wickedsencho.bsky.social•17 hours ago

This is why it doesn't sit right with me when SEA bought their way into our scene with their big bucks and people took it while turning a blind eye to all the issues that come with that...

keits.bsky.social•1 day ago

Well said brother

wubbiq.bsky.social•1 day ago

from your perspective do you see sustainability in high school/collegiate eSports? I remember seeing a few pro players join collegiate teams after overwatch league crashed, since it was actual guaranteed value for their effort. not sure how the past year has shook out but it did give me some hope

wubbiq.bsky.social•1 day ago

obviously I'm not crazy about the NCAA but it wouldn't be the worst player in the space

ecokady.bsky.social•11 hours ago

I vote for gambling as the final grift to keep it all going!

omnirabbit.bsky.social•21 hours ago

the load bearing TOs don't have to be quite so load bearing when more and more of a community steps up. Too often the issue boils down to "one person took every role and never delegated" - in a large enough group every person only needs to contribute a little bit.
That imo is the "true future"

omnirabbit.bsky.social•21 hours ago

I know it feels easy to say but that's what I've been pushing for locally. If any of us can TO, if the setups are decentralized, if the games are old enough that we can swap at will thanks to MiSTer, then it becomes way easier to hold the fort long term.
We're on year 7 of sailor moon thanks to it.

omnirabbit.bsky.social•21 hours ago

And the strategy in turn means that at any given major there's a cadre of 5~10 sailor moon heads that can all pitch in to make that slice happen.
If you replicate this for a lot of scenes, you end up with a regional/major, which has in fact been the end result (BBB: Beach Episode)

omnirabbit.bsky.social•20 hours ago

community leaders need to learn to delegate; the most successful in every scene do this, but a lot of the infra relies on single points of failure today because of this lack

lilgief.bsky.social•21 hours ago

The FGC model of selling participation over spectating is the only one I see lasting

People are willing to pay to have an event where they can hangout, not so much to watch some dudes playing video games live. Leaving ad space sales as the only profitable aspect of eSports

impemboganecue.bsky.social•1 day ago

This is why I've always found it suspect when FGC people want to get on board, and want to pivot to that business model. It really isn't one! It's a lot of hype and hot air. The FGC should keep moving slow and striving for realistic sustainability

impemboganecue.bsky.social•1 day ago

If that means not many people can make a living off it, so be it. It's better than having the floor drop from under people every year or two

jenalysis.bsky.social•1 day ago

How would FGC majors survive without those shady folks. Not much profit in fighting games period.

The costs of majors are already unsustainable- and in a recession, attendance by pot monsters will plummet.

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