Facing eSports Head-on

"What is important for the success of an eSports team?" Recently, I have started receiving this question quite often. Thankfully, it seems the team "Rush Gaming" is beginning to be recognized as having achieved a certain level of success. However, it is a bit of a dilemma... those of us involved feel that we are still far from success and only halfway through our journey.

Rush Gaming is a team for the shooting game "Call of Duty," which I founded in my fourth year of entrepreneurship along with two other co-founders. "Call of Duty" is actually a globally popular game series that has continued for over 10 years; it is a leading series for home consoles that generates excitement with new releases almost every year. To give you an idea of its popularity, the so-called "game streamers" who broadcast their gameplay on YouTube or Nico Nico Douga have enough influence to earn millions or even tens of millions of yen in advertising revenue based on their viewership. Rush Gaming began its journey with four gamers who had been active in the "eSports" scene of this popular game since 2017, along with one highly popular streamer. Currently, the team consists of five players, four streamers (who are like professional talents primarily focused on broadcasting), and about five staff members. Beyond participating in game tournaments, we opened a pop-up shop in Laforet Harajuku for one week and sold over 1.5 million yen worth of goods. Our focus on apparel and merchandise sales is also starting to attract attention. Depending on the player, some have individual incomes of around 10 million yen, making it a profession with a lot of potential depending on how you look at it.

Now, what is your impression of "eSports"? Some may have a strong impression of figures related to the global market, such as "hundreds of millions of yen in prize money" or "eSports team market valuations in the tens of billions of yen." On the other hand, many people likely hold a negative image, seeing it as an excuse for gaming addiction or neglecting academic studies. As eSports continues to develop, there is no doubt that it is crucial for not only those involved but also those around them to have a more accurate understanding of what the eSports market actually is.

The history of eSports is short. It is particularly short in Japan, and if compared to sports, it might be close to the genre of minor sports like skateboarding or street dancing. In any case, it is still difficult to make a living solely through these activities in Japanese society. The current reality is that players manage to get by through coaching, content creation, and PR activities in addition to their competitive play. Since a player's career span is relatively short and it is by no means a recommended career path, when people ask me, "I want to become a pro gamer, what do you think?" I reply, "You definitely shouldn't. If you're looking for approval, you're not cut out for it." In eSports, success is undoubtedly a pipe dream unless you are a crazy pioneer. You cannot survive unless you are a person who can push past the opposition of those around you, think for yourself, act for yourself, and run while carving out your own path—someone who is crazy and can seize luck. Only a tiny fraction of those who fail over and over, face setbacks, and keep trying even when they are worn out have the possibility of succeeding by "good fortune."

Because it is such an industry, I cannot help but feel a great sense of unease regarding the idea of "wanting to study eSports professionally" or "wanting to teach it." Currently, I feel there is a mix of factions: those trying to expand the essential business value, such as revenue from entertainment, and those plotting to expand a fake eSports education market that uses children's dreams as bait. There is no doubt that eSports will continue to gain popularity among young people. That is exactly why I want it to lead in a better direction—for example, using an interest in eSports as a catalyst to go abroad to study, to devote oneself further to academics, or to use accessible design software and streaming equipment to learn marketing and design. This is what I aim for. From a different perspective, eSports is a field that most easily connects to the "jitsugaku (science)" advocated by Yukichi Fukuzawa, and I sincerely hope it receives more attention in the future.

Setting aside whether we are successful or not, I would like to conclude by sharing my thoughts on comparing professional eSports with professional sports. The important commonality is that their way of life—their narrative and story—is the essential value. It goes without saying that today's youth are already in the midst of an internationally competitive society even if they are unaware of it, but it is also true that it is difficult for a sense of crisis to emerge within the middle-class society built by their parents' generation. On the other hand, for young people who have vague anxieties about the future but want to make a living doing what they find rewarding or what they love, the example set by pro gamers and teams of their own generation—who face setbacks in their "passion," lose their dreams in harsh environments, or find success—is more significant and raw than their parents' generation imagines. That is why I believe its value will only grow larger in the future.