Esports is here to stay – and we at Mercedes-Benz are excited to be part of the global phenomenon!

Let me start with a little quiz: The finals of what sports competition were watched by a peak viewership of over 73 million people on their screens in 2021?

With no context at all, most of you would probably drop some educated guesses like the Super Bowl or the final match day of the English Premier League. In fact, it was the Grand Final series of the 2021 World Championship of the professional Esports game, “#LeagueOfLegends”.

Over the past decade, #Esports has emerged from its niche to become a worldwide phenomenon. Long gone are the times of stereotypical teenagers casually playing online games after school. Today, professional Esports athletes practice up to 16 hours per day and win millions of US dollars in prize money. Esports has defined an entirely new form of the entertainment business, with audiences that outshine even some of the biggest classic sports events.

In a nutshell: Esports is BIG. And it’s going to get even bigger in future.

We at Mercedes-Benz AG are involved in the global Esports game, too, as partners of SK Gaming and Riot Games’ massively successful “League of Legends” (aka. “LoL”) universe. But why are we at Mercedes-Benz so excited about Esports?

One reason is the fact that Esports marks the evolution of a new global pop culture that has brought together young people from all around the world. Just the fact that there are more Esports teams at British universities than football teams today is jaw-dropping to me. And I firmly believe that this forward-looking, inclusive community can teach our society a few lessons in equality, too.

What’s more, gamers and their fans are particularly curious about technology – just like we are. They’re pioneers who celebrate progress and push boundaries. They embrace digitalisation, show that co-creation and creativity are their fundamental character traits, and last but not least, they also share our attitude towards taking social responsibility.

This is why I see Mercedes-Benz and Esports as a perfect match – and deeply believe in the future of this new, global sports movement.

We want to be part of the community and therefore, it’s on us to give something back to the it. That’s why we’ve built the “SK Gaming eJuniorCup”, a community eFootball tournament for Mercedes-Benz trainees, professional players, and successful influencer.

That’s why our designers were proud to work with Riot Games to co-create the “League of Legends” sports Championship Ring to honour the new “LoL” world champion with an iconic asset. And that’s why we’re all in to offer platforms for fostering diversity – just as we do with our participation in Project Avarosa where we, together with SK Gaming, offer female and non-binary gamers a safe environment with the best training opportunities at SK Gaming’s home base in Cologne so that they can pursue a professional career.

If we stay focussed, stay eager to learn, and turn our experience into compelling highlights that continue to strike a chord with the community, we at Mercedes-Benz have all it takes to help shape an entirely new generation of sustainability-driven tech enthusiasts.

It’s game on!