Esports Dynamics: Inside Team Queso and BELOBABA's Alliance

In early 2022, #BELOBABA entered the esports industry alongside Team Queso as the organization's main investor. What is this industry about? What role can a company like BELOBABA play, which originally has no connection to video games?

This article will allow its readers to get closer to the industry, understand its workings, and how any brand can approach and contribute if interested in participating, as is currently the case with BELOBABA.

What are esports?

The esports industry is considered a branch of entertainment associated with sports and video games. Esports or electronic sports are video game competitions organized through systems that allow the development of professional players, just as it happens in traditional sports, and enable the development of major events that gather fans.

The origins of esports date back to the late 20th century when the video game industry showed its first signs of competitive play with titles like Pong, Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, and Pac-Man, along with the emergence of Twin Galaxies, the first organization responsible for recording world records in various video games.

In 1972, the first documented electronic sports competition took place at Stanford University. It was called "Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics" and consisted of a competition among college students in the video game "Spacewar!". Decades later, the first official Street Fighter competition called Battle by the Bay took place in 1996, a circuit that would later transform into the EVO, which continues to be organized year after year. At the end of the 90s and the beginning of the 2000s, the emergence of titles like Starcraft, the early versions of Counter Strike, and the birth of the first organizations like Fnatic, Dignitas, and T1, as well as major competition developers like ESL, were fundamental pieces for the expansion of the current esports ecosystem.

Currently, the industry is composed of a large number of actors, including esports teams, players, tournament developers, fans, broadcasting and content systems, brands that integrate into the industry as partners and investors, and publishers that make the system viable through the development and publication of their video games or IPs.

Growth and Professionalization of the Industry

Each video game has particularities that allow the development of individual or team competitions. Team competitions have been the kickstart for professional players to come together through organizations, giving rise to the first professional esports teams.

The role of esports teams, such as Team Queso, is to provide players with a safe space and the necessary tools to develop their maximum competitive potential, as well as to concentrate marketing efforts so that fans can follow both the team and the players. These efforts require investment like any company, and the role of sponsors and investors supporting the team is fundamental, as is the case with BELOBABA in Team Queso.

The professionalization of a team or player involves various factors, such as a healthy training system in the sports area with the assistance of different professionals. Over time, major organizations have understood that roles such as sports psychologist, physical trainer, nutritionist, or a technical staff tailored to different titles have been necessary additions that improve the players' performance.

Another parameter that implies professionalization in organizations is economic stability. Each team must maintain rigorous control of finances to ensure that the activity is sustainable and profitable. This is where the role of partnerships like BELOBABA with Team Queso becomes especially relevant, as their contributions are what allow maximizing investment in the sports area and providing players with better conditions to achieve their goals.

Currently, the franchise system is gaining relevance in various disciplines, rewarding the good performance of organizations in each of these parameters, including marketing efforts. This system allows the main video game competitions with the highest global exposure to be led by organizations that work on their professionalization daily. Teams applying to a franchise system must meet minimum standards imposed by the Publisher of each video game.

Differences with Traditional Sports

The main difference between esports and traditional sports relates to the presence of the Publisher, that is, the developer and owner of the video game in question. In traditional sports, there is no "owner of the ball," whereas video game IPs or titles do have an owner or a brand that owns the intellectual property rights. One of the most recognized companies is Riot Games, publisher of two of the most popular titles in the industry, League of Legends and Valorant. The publisher sets the main conditions under which the competitive system must develop, and no tournament or competition should be held without their approval or outside their guidelines.

Another significant difference with traditional sports is that esports are digital natives (main focus on content creation and entertainment) and do not have the traditional sports TV rights. The main channels through which esports reach fans are through social media and digital content platforms such as Twitch or YouTube, where audiovisual production takes precedence over the sporting aspect. Live events act as the mecca in major events that gather a huge number of fans and focus on the spectacle of the staging.

In recent years, big names from traditional sports, such as Gerard Piqué with Ibai in Spain and the association of Lionel Messi with Sergio Kun Agüero in Kr? Esports in Latin America, have entered esports. This has allowed for greater exposure of the industry to more traditional sports sectors.

Esports professional players are already considered athletes by the US and German governments. In turn, the Korean Olympic Committee has granted esports the status of an Olympic sport, allowing great players, like Faker (historical maximum reference in the game League of Legends), to apply for benefits through their sports achievements.

Future Challenges

The professionalization of esports is the main challenge the industry faces year after year. The development of specialized professionals is one of the fundamental pillars that will allow for better performance of organizations in the future. Greater professionalization generates confidence in the industry and enables better investment opportunities for companies, which will lead to further growth of the industry in the future.