Employment opportunities in esports : do Raahen porvari- ja kauppakoulu’s esports studies meet the needs of the esports industry?

Abstract

Esports industry has seen massive growth in the past decade. The audiences are growing, the tournament prizes are growing, and subsequently the esports organizations are growing. However, the business side of esports and monetization of the audiences is still lacking. There is still lot of work to be done for a more professional and sustainable esports industry. This research attempted to piece together some of the fragmented data available of the esports field and augment it with visions by some of the most prominent esports experts. The goal was to study esports and conduct a summary of the working opportunities that the field provides now and in the future. Better picture of the esports industry was formed to apprehend the field’s future and find out what positions and skills are going to be on demand, so that the Raahen porvari- ja kauppakoulu can provide suitable education that prepares its students to answer the needs of the job market. Seven highly skilled professionals were interviewed in semi-structured interviews in the autumn of 2021 about their views on the esports scene and its outlook.