Opinion: Draftkings & Esports
Ahead of his appearance at the Sport Industry Breakfast Club on 7th September, Hannes Kranich – eSports specialist at leading daily fantasy sports destination, DraftKings – offers insight into the rapidly developing market, how it can improve, and his journey from player to manager to one of the leading voices in the industry…
As the eSports scene continues to grow in popularity, it brings with it a major shift in perception, as it fast becomes a more mainstream facet. eSports was still in its infancy 15 years ago and the entire industry evolved tremendously since then, however, there is still room for improvement. As players increasingly strive to compete to a high standard, eSports is seemingly being accepted as more of a vocation.
I was in my early teens when I started out playing eSports. Like most young men, I’d play games with my friends as a form of entertainment to pass the time. If we weren’t outside playing sport then we would be around one another’s house competing against each other. It was about 10 years ago that I started to play more seriously; it was very different beast back then compared to today. Competing professionally meant that some days I would be playing up to 14 hours per day and it wasn’t long before my enjoyment was on the wane.
It was around the same time I founded an eSports team in Estonia and I turned my hand to being a manager. This gave me the level of enjoyment that I had lost when competing.
eSports is now played out live in front of sold-out venues all around the world.
DraftKings, a leading daily fantasy sports company from the USA, approached me last year when I was running a company that provided live statistical data for eSports games. They had identified eSports as a rapidly growing market and wanted to offer contests on their platform. We were the only company at that time providing real-time statistical data for eSports and it was through our early discussions that DraftKings made us an offer to acquire the business.
That’s how I now find myself running the eSports game operations for DraftKings. Based in the London office, I am responsible for choosing which games are offered on the platform, setting the salaries for each of players, as well as supporting product operations team in sizing the contests.
We currently offer contests on the world’s most popular eSports competition, League of Legends. The appetite to grow eSports on DraftKings means that we are constantly looking at other potential games. In order for us to offer a good product experience the game needs to have readily available and measurable statistics for us to build the DFS product around. Additionally, tournaments and leagues need to keep to a set schedule with start times remaining constant. This is why League of Legends works so well – not only is the game very popular, but the set league structure across the four major regions lends itself well to the DFS product.
An example of an eSports lobby on DraftKings with available contests.
eSports continues to establish itself in the entertainment industry. The audience is youthful and the industry seeks innovative ways to increase revenues. In my personal opinion, improvements need to be made to tournaments and scheduling for eSports to become a better spectator sport. While there have been attempts to get eSports into mainstream media, it is better suited to the digital market where streaming online is primarily the norm.
We are well on the way to better monetising eSports and are constantly challenging ourselves to find creative ways in which to achieve this.
I am looking forward to speaking at the eSports edition of the Sport Industry Breakfast Club in September and hearing the opinions of the wider sport industry audience. There are sure to be intriguing discussions around key areas.
Hannes will be joined by Wouter Sleijffers, CEO, Fnatic and Chester King, CEO, International eGames Group at the Sport Industry Breakfast Club on 7th September, moderated by Jo Twist, CEO of UKIE (UK Interactive Entertainment), the only trade body for the UK’s games and interactive entertainment industry.
Memberships are still available to the remaining two Sport Industry Breakfast Club events of 2016, book your place here.
