OPINION
Esports takes live cloud production to the next level By Mike Cronk, VP of Advanced Technology at Grass Valley
With its roots in the arcades, esports was once niche to the sports business but has matured spectacularly into a professional industry in its own right. As competitive video games continue to integrate into popular culture, global investors, brands, media outlets, and consumers are all paying attention. Even this year, despite spectators being locked out of stadia, live events truncated and esports companies forced to produce remotely esports has managed to grow an astonishing +14.5% from $947.1 million in 2020 to over a billion dollars for the first time. That’s according to esports and video game analysts NewZoo which also forecasts $833.6 million in revenues – over 75% of the total esports 64
market – will come from media rights and sponsorship in 2021. Audiences are growing too with the global games live-streaming audience hitting $728.8 million in 2021, up 10% from 2020. The future of esports on the consumer side will likely be powered by mobile, which will further reduce barriers to entry and allow even more gamers and fans to pour in. In particular, 5G connectivity will reduce latency so dramatically it will allow even deeper realtime interaction between fans and players and perhaps lead to new gaming formats. On the production side the future is already here. Live production is happening today in the cloud bringing incredible flexibility, efficiency and reach for esports teams,
leagues and publishers to grow the market. EA Sports and Gfinity have pioneered this exciting development. Electronic Arts Competitive Gaming Entertainment (CGE), the company's esports division, began fully distributed, remote production for its major competitive gaming events EA SPORTS™ FIFA 21 and Apex Legends. The end-to-end cloud workflow allows EA to deliver broadcast quality storytelling to its global fanbase – with a
