Recently RBC has published a review of the annual survey* PayPal and SuperData – at the end of 2017, Russia once again has regained first place in the European market of eSports.

Last year we lost to Sweden, taking the second place. Total volume of the eSports market in Europe and UAE in 2017 amounted to $252.5 million.

The topthree in 2017 looks like this ($ million):

The study is being conducted for the third year, and Russia shows a steady growth in results: the audience of eSports events is being added annually, and according to forecasts, this trend will continue, while in Europe growth is gradually slowing down. By 2019, the number of our citizens interested in eSports is expected to increase to 4.9 million people, showing an increase of 19.5%

Portrait of eSports lover in Russia: most of them are men (84%) aged 25-34 (43%). Percentage of women in this group increased by three points compared to last year.

Users’ interest in eSports is really growing; this is also due to increased awareness of the competition and increased penetration of the Internet, as well as availability of devices with Internet access. We have reason to assume that the indicator published in the report is even slightly lower than the real figures, since the study has a link to payments via PayPal, and it is not the only method of payment in Russia. In addition, it is necessary to divide the categories of interest: it is not only about those users who play and watch stream, but also about those who are interested only in games, and ordinary viewers. The growth of the market can be seen by big players who make acquisitions associated with positive projections: Mail.ru Group in January 2018 announced the acquisition in Eastern Europe’s largest gaming holding ESforce (transaction amount $120 million). MTS bought Gambit Esports gaming club, and Rostelecom showed interest in VEGA Squadron cyber command. Most likely, investments in eSports will really grow, as the audience stopped being considered as insolvent students. Perhaps at the beginning of the industry development it was possible to say so, but now yesterday’s students have grown up, got a job and remained true to their Hobbies. So the interest from sponsors will only increase and it is necessary to expect appearance of new players of this market.

** Research methodology: data on viewing of eSports competition of Twitch and YouTube, tickets
purchase for Championships, volume of prize funds and sponsorship packages. Demography was counted according to the results of the survey of residents of 20 countries participating in ranking.

AUTHOR: ANGELINA RESHINA