Tag Archives: economy of esports

Astralis provides esports with an example of transparency

You have to hand it to Astralis with their most recent post about transparency behind cajunb‘s ownership situation.

They have simultaneously defused any public backlash about the trade and, for a large part, explained how their player-based co-ownership system ends up working out. While they didn’t disclose specific numbers regarding the amount of money involved, they disclosed a lot more about the process than they were obligated to, by any means.

A TL;DR of his ownership situation: he will keep some of his share in the company, however, as a minority stakeholder, he won’t have any control or vote in Astralis’ operations. His minority stake doesn’t allow him to directly profit from the team’s performance, only from a potential sale of the organization to a new owner.

TLEP #034 – Non-Exclusive Exclusivity

Today’s episode of the lowercase esports podcast uses the details from yesterday’s post about the World Esports Association leak as a jumping off point for a discussion about how far-reaching this organization’s potential legal authority could be. It’s so weird for ESL to think that an organization like this benefits players or that it needs to exist at all.

I’d also like to take this space to express my gratitude towards the whiskey I consumed during the production of this episode. You helped me through some mental blocks and even though you impaired me to the point where I stumbled on the simplest of acronyms and initialisms, you also helped me to ignore that horrible squeaker that gaben matched me up with on CS:GO MM later that evening. You’re the true hero, whiskey.

The episode listing and subscription links can be found at the podcast index.

Cornerstone Euro teams, ESL form international cabal to consolidate marketing power

wesaleakEight teams, one event organizer, zero publishers, zero players, and a five person board with two ESL representatives. Just considering those details alone, you’d have to conclude that an esports organization with a power structure like that is not meant to fairly promote esports, player rights, or anything remotely resembling the utopian union idea that never seems to materialize.

I think it’s safe to say that, holy fucking shit, ESL have completely lost their minds. Here’s a translated version of the organization’s mission statement originally discovered by /u/Ivanuvo and translated from the original German:

Aim: Promote tuning and managing sport at international level and establishment of a global and structured platform for eSports, its players and teams through construction, promotion and operation of ESL-Liga/leagues, as well as other eSports events that are supported by the Association, online and offline.
Creation, creation and obtaining necessary licenses and/or development of software, technology, content and other materials that are needed for the ESL League/leagues and other eSports events supported by the Club (i.e. ticket sales, production logistics, event organisation) to work, can be advertised, promoted and operated;
Combining the sporting and economic interests of the teams who are members of the Association (‘WESA-Team(s)’), as marketing partners, as well as marketing of all of the WESA community rights conferred on team players (‘player’) and the Walsh teams.)

We’ll definitely be waiting to hear about details for this organization, anonymous spokesperson who is probably Carmac.

From the bits and pieces that are publicly available, it’s reasonable to conclude that ESL are trying to secure its place in the competitive scene–regardless if their place is already secure in the competitive scene because… y’know… it’s ESL.