How to Start a Career In E-Sports

Abstract

This thesis is about eSports, also known as electronic sports or competitive gaming. Gaming has grown as a business over the past few decades and eSports rival traditional sports in terms of revenue and viewership numbers. The industry is expected to continue growing, and as such, it is interesting to look at different career opportunities within the eSports industry. This paper lays out the history of competitive gaming and explores different career paths possible in the field of eSports, as well as ways to start a career in eSports. The aim of this thesis is to give a good, coherent picture of eSports as an industry, and to analyze the ways professionals in different positions and with different career paths have created their own careers in eSports. This research gives insight into the still quite new industry and the ways professionals from different backgrounds end up working for eSports organizations. Data used consists of written article interviews of professional gamers, YouTube videos of eSports professionals explaining what they do and how they ended up in the industry, as well as a short questionnaire. The conclusions of this thesis answer to the question: How to get a career in eSports?