In just a few years, esports has become a fast-growing global billion-dollar industry. The transition from a niche in cybercafes to a global entertainment industry with sold-out stadiums has transformed esports forever. Esport is growing massively both in the form of associations and companies, but esport is also an industry that sparks growth far beyond its own domain.
Sponsored: This article is made in collaboration with the Danish Chamber of Commerce.
By Jasmina Pless, Head of Entrepreneurship at the Danish Chamber of Commerce.
Denmark has really made a splash on the international esports scene, where Danish players are at the top of some of the biggest games; Counter-Strike, League of Legends and Fifa, to name a few. Every year, the Danish company BLAST hosts one of the world’s largest Counter-Strike tournaments, where 500,000 fans are watching from all over the world, and the Danish teams Astralis and Copenhagen Flames are at the top of the world rankings in Counter-Strike.
The rapid growth of esport on a global scale has also led to the growth of new business models related to esport. The industry creates both exports and jobs for Denmark, but esports is also an industry that creates growth far beyond its own domain.
As there is a large overlap between people with specialized IT skills and who are interested in esports, gaming can be used as a recruitment tool to find great IT talent.
Copenhagen Capacity and BLAST have, among other things, collaborated to attract international IT talent to Danish companies, and both the Royal Danish Army and many large companies have seen the potential in attracting employees with esports skills to their departments for cyber defence. The reason is, that many of the qualities gamers gain by joining a team make them perfect for an IT security department: it is important that you think fast and work as a team against a common enemy who is sitting on the other side of the screen.
With the many new opportunities and business models within esports, it is important that we unite the industry. Therefore, Dansk Erhverv has brought together the esports industry in a new business network, which consists of approximately 15 companies with esports at the core of their business. The association Esport Danmark is also part of the network as a link to the Danish esports associations.
One thing is clear: a strong association for esports and a well-functioning industry of commercial esports companies are each other’s prerequisites – just as we know it from other sports such as football.
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