Major esports events will not be immune from the global economic downturn, the boss of one of the world’s biggest gaming championships has warned.
Speaking in San Francisco at the League Of Legends world finals, John Needham told Sky News he was concerned advertisers might start to pull back from sponsoring such events.
The global president of esports at Riot Games said: “Because our revenues generally mostly come from sponsors, you can have some weakness.”
He added: “We’ve done really well because we reach the scale of millennial and Gen Z audience that very few platforms can reach. But I am a little bit worried about softness with our sponsors.”
League Of Legends is one of the most successful PC games on the planet, and events like the Worlds 2022 championship comprise a large part of Riot Games’ revenue.
This year, Riot Games attracted sponsorship deals from brands such as Tiffany’s, Mastercard, and Mercedes, which were keen to reach younger audiences.
As almost all esports are played on PC at an elite level, the viewership is huge. Worlds 2022 set a new record for League of Legends esports with 5.1 million concurrent viewers.
Could the UK become an esports juggernaut?
But what about the UK market? Having proved itself a worthy host of world-class sports events, could it one day welcome the very best professional gamers too?
In a report back in 2020, the government described esports as having “the potential to develop as an area of real national strength in the UK, building on our world-class video games, entertainment and sports sectors”.
Worlds 2022 attracted huge crowds and online audiences
Mr Needham, who used to live in the UK, said: “The UK hasn’t been the strongest market for us because it’s a very console-dominated market.
“Generally your flats, your…
