Esports: A Viable Career Option

Esports is one of the fastest growing segments in India this year. Given the growing opportunities, digital sports have gained great momentum in the past couple of months. Having said that, a big chunk of our mainstream audience is still unfamiliar with the concept of Esports. This being the biggest challenge, many people don’t consider Esports as a potential career option. 

Globally, the Esports market has matured and is clocking about $1.5B. In India, games like PUBG Mobile(expected to relaunch soon), Freefire and Valorant etc. are attracting massive viewership and therefore attracting huge investments. 

It is estimated that India has received $350M in Investments between the period 2014 to 2020 for Gaming, and most recently, PUBG has announced an investment of $100M into Indian market for their relaunch & further market development.  

Overall, Esports ecosystem offers multiple career prospects, but in this article, we will limit the prospects specific to Tournament Organization (TO’s) just like ours. Intent of this article is to give in depth understanding to anyone who is actively seeking career opportunities in the Esports segment in India. 

Leadership Roles: There are a few C-level roles in a Tournament Organization industry who are expected to possess great knowledge on games, match formats, rules & most importantly relationship with the gaming community. These kinds of roles are typically for industry veterans having core industry knowledge with having 7 years and above of experience. In The Esports Club? (TEC) all our leaders came with a background of being Ex-Professional Players, Content Creators, or Tournament organizers. 

#1: Tournament Director(TD): 

Experience: 7 – 10 Years 

As the Head of Esports, Tournament Director is responsible for the company's overall esports management as well as execution. The tournament director should have wide knowledge of all Esport titles, and should be capable of quick learnings. This position is responsible for identifying and hiring the core execution team that consists of Casters, Match Analysts, Broadcast Experts, Tournament Admins etc.  

TEC TD: Mansoor Nabu Ahmed 

#2: Creative Director: 

Experience: 5 – 10 Years

 A creative director is responsible to establish the visual identity and creative output for Esport Tournaments. A Creative director works closely with the graphic designers, Social Media Managers & Tournament management teams to deliver engaging content that meets the expectation of sponsors. 

#3: Sales Director: 

Experience: 5 – 10 Years 

A sales director develops, coordinates, and implements Esports plans into revenue opportunities. Involvement in strategic marketing and operations planning with leadership teams, setting objectives and identifying methods to reach revenue goals are the key responsibility areas for this position. The client servicing teams report into the Sales Director, and the position holder is directly responsible for relationships with Sponsoring Brands.   

TEC SD: Ishaan Arya 

Management Roles consist of a Core execution team with deep knowledge of one or more specific Esports Titles. They are responsible for end to end planning of a Campaign and execution. They manage extended teams who are responsible for sub tasks of tournaments such as Casters, Analysts, Admins etc. 

#4: Tournament Manager(TM): 

Experience: 2 – 5 Years 

The Tournament Manager has the overall accountability for managing and running a successful Esports Tournament. TM is responsible for creating and implementing policies and rules of each tournament. Works with larger extended teams like Casters, Production Manager, Analysts & Admins for successful tournament execution. Submits tournament reports to leadership teams at the end of each tournament.  

TEC TM: Rohsan, Nrupen & Karan 

#5: Event Manager: 

Experience: 5+ Years 

The event manager is responsible for planning and organizing Esports LAN Events. These events play a huge role in the success of tournament organizations. An event manager should have extensive knowledge of Hardware, Networking, Power Planning and other technical areas that require for the successful execution of a LAN Event. The concerned person is also responsible for coordinating with vendors and local sourcing agents.  

#6: Client Relationship Manager 

Experience: 2-5 Years 

The client relationship manager is a single point of contact for all the clients. They are responsible to understand the clients requirements and coordinate with internal teams to integrate sponsor brand deliverables. They also manage reporting and billing, and maintain good relationships with clients and constantly explore new business opportunities with clients. They carry a revenue target.

#7: Esports Casters: 

Experience: 2-5 Years 

Casters are Esports commentators are very similar to traditional sports commentators. They engage and narrate before, during and after the matches for the live audience. Casters should have deep knowledge on the titles and should specialize in multiple titles. They also conduct interviews of the players. 

TEC Casters: Apollonia, Yaksha, Anuresh, Het

#8: Esports Analysts: 

Experience: 2-5 Years 

Analysts are also part of the casters team with having a specialization in a specific title. They do live analysis of the game and narrate their observations to casters and audience.  

#9: Broadcast Host: 

Experience: 3+ Years 

Hosts are the main presenters during the tournaments. Hosting is done both during Online and on LAN Tournaments. They are responsible for hyping up the audience and deliver impressive introductions of the sponsors and teams. 

#10: Tournament Producer:  

Experience: 2-5 Years 

Producers are the decision makers of the broadcasts. They decide on which player to follow, camera angles etc and are in constant touch with Casters on stage. They are needed to have a creative eye on what feed connects with the Live audience. 

#11: Broadcast Manager: 

Experience: 2-5 Years 

A broadcast manager is responsible for live stream production. They have special skills and troubleshooting capabilities for all broadcasts in various Production Software. They work closely with tournament producer taking their inputs on selecting the right feeds from the tournaments.   

TEC: Soham

#12: In-Game Observers: 

Experience: 1-2 Years

These are game specialists who keep a close track of the matches from players perspective. They report to the tournament producers on player insights. They are responsible for tracking foul plays during the matches. 

#13: Tournament Admins: 

Experience: 1+ Years 

Admins are the backbone for a good tournament execution. They are responsible for connecting and coordinating with teams. They solve for important issues that teams are facing before or during the tournament by coordinating with respective internal team members. 

#14: Social Media Manager: 

Experience: 3 – 5 Years 

The Social media manager works closely with tournament management teams and creative teams for planning, implementing and monitoring every campaign's social media strategy. They Focus on strategies to increase engagement and reach of owned Social Channels. They are the response managers for all online queries.

TEC SMM: Balaji , Manas

#15: Graphics Designer: 

Experience: 2-5 Years 

A graphic designer excels in sort of graphics applications. They take creative inputs from creative directors and tournament managers for design artworks. They create broadcast assets, social media posts, and web banners as required. 

TEC Graphics Designers: Shariq, Lakshya

#16: Video Editor: 

Experience: 2-5 Years 

A video editor is expected to excel in non-linear video editing softwares. They do all video assets by taking inputs from the Creative Director. They produce announcement videos, hype videos, player interviews, best game plays etc, both for social media and broadcasts.  

TEC Video Editors:  Anirudh, Parth

#17: Content/News Writer: 

Experience: 1-2 Years 

A content writer is expected to have exceptional written and editing skills. They are responsible for writing content and post event reports for the social media and Website News/Blogs section.  

We hope this article has thrown some light into anyone seeking career options in Esports.