ESI London Preview: The ins and outs of building and running an esports team

17 September 2018

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Starting an esports organisation is easy right? You get a team together and you compete. Simple as that? Wrong. Very wrong. 

While virtually anyone can compete and be successful in any esport, competing is only half of the difficulty. It takes a lot of moving parts to not only create an esports team from the ground up, but to sustain it as an ongoing entity and business. From scouting players to managing them, from health and wellness to partnership development, there are many things necessary to house a well-balanced and successful team.

What exactly are all the necessary moving parts to create and run a successful esports organisation? What types of elements should organisations focus on when appealing to brands? On the other side, what should brands and marketing agencies know about the inner-workings of esports organisations when appealing to their audience? 

All of these and more will be answered at ESI London (September 18th-20th) on the panel: It’s not all about the players – The ins and outs of building and running an esports team. 

Our panel members know the answer to these essential questions on how to run an esports team.

Confirmed Speakers:

  • Patrik Sättermon – Co-owner – Fnatic
  • Jason Lake – CEO – compLexity Gaming
  • Nicolas Maurer – CEO – Team Vitality
  • Roman Dvoryankin – General Manager – Virtus.Pro

Moderator
Anna Baumann – Esports lawyer

Nicolas Maurer told Esports Insider creating a team nowadays is harder than it was 5-10 years ago: “It’s incredibly difficult to create a team from scratch right now. We were lucky enough to start at the right time, about five years ago. Back then you didn’t need a lot of investment and if you made the choices of teams you could gain success.

“The successful teams you see right now are those that have been in the scene for a while and have a lot of investments because you need a lot of money to create a team that can compete with the biggest teams in Europe and North America. At the end of the day you need the best talent if you want to win a title. If you have a fan base of zero people it’s very hard to go to a brand and say ‘hey you need to sponsor me.” 

There are a lot of organisations that have been around esports for quite some time such as Fnatic, OpTic Gaming, and FaZe Clan. Others are just entering the space thanks to major investments like SpaceStation Gaming. Regardless of the team success, they all thrive in the same way in the same atmosphere, thanks to education of the esports ecosystem. 

Maurer also told Esports Insider events like #ESILondon are a necessity for esports education: “To me it’s really important to have events like this because a lot of brands still need education about esports. Most know the basics of esports; the appeal, the growth, the numbers of the audience, etc. What they don’t understand is how to connect with that audience because they have their own expectations. If you don’t understand the culture, you will probably fail.

While it’s not impossible to create an esports organisation right now there are much more obstacles than there were when esports was still young and new. Education that you’ll find at events like ESI London will help your brand or your organisation grow in the esports space now and in the coming years. 

Ready to book your ticket? You can do so here!