2023-05-14 11:45:13
When some people immediately mention football or basketball, other more knowledgeable people cite chess or the game of go. But few people see e-sport as a discipline in its own right. And yet, after Stockholm, Rio or even Berlin, it is in France that the “Major” of Counter-Strike, a shooter in subjective view where the player sees the action through the eyes of the protagonist, among the most famous video games in the world, settled down until May 21 at the Accor Arena in Paris.
In rows of onions on their computers, from all over the world, the players compete, by interposed screens, in two teams: one embodies terrorists, the other special forces. Hooded sweaters on the shoulders, relaxed looks, these athletes of another kind take this meeting seriously. “These are the biggest tournaments, any professional player dreams of winning one. It’s a competition that puts a kind of unique pressure on you, almost phantom but still a little present.confided Mathieu Herbaut known as “ZywOo”, one of the best Counter-Strike players in the world, To The Teamlast April.
A sport like any other?
Esports has long been denigrated by other sports due to its lack of a physical dimension. However, it remains a discipline where to be competitive, the practitioner must have hardened psychomotor skills. “There is no consensus definition of what sport is “, recalls Nicolas Besombes, doctor at the Institute of Sports and Health Sciences in Paris and former vice-president of France e-sport. “We often associate the idea of sport with energy expenditure, power or sweating, but there are plenty of sporting activities, such as shooting, which require other skills such as concentration, dexterity or accuracy. »
It is undoubtedly more by its mode of organization that e-sport remains distant from sport. “Today, sports are regulated by federations, under the supervision of the Ministry of Sports, develops the researcher. These are originally non-mercantile activities. In esports, the competition regulators are the game publishers, who own the intellectual property and have commercial activities. » For the researcher, the federal sports model is not “not suitable for e-sports”. “The sports code clearly states that the federation is the holder of the intellectual property of the sport in question. It would be in direct conflict with the publishers to create a French e-sport federation”he adds.
An observation shared by the former Secretary of State in charge of digital between 2019 and 2022, Cédric O, who sees in boxing another possible model: “It’s a closed ecosystem, which works, he points out. Real boxing fights are from private leagues. The Olympic boxing champion is less known than a Mike Tyson or a Mohammed Ali. »
A booming practice
At the end of the 1990s, all over the world, many leagues and private esports competitions were born, allowing greater visibility of this discipline. A second, more substantial turn followed in 2010, to see e-sport become a real social phenomenon. “Games were designed to be watched in addition to being played. We have witnessed a spectacularization of e-sport”analyzes Nicolas Besombes.
At the same time, the emergence of broadcasting platforms such as YouTube, Justin.tv (the ancestor of Twitch) or Dailymotion, allowed everyone to follow competitions in a few clicks. This period also marked the arrival of a new economic model, with free games, such as League of Legends (team strategy game in a fantastic universe where two teams of five champions compete to destroy the opposing base), which increased the number of players and spectators.
The very self-taught model of the world of e-sport has given way to an increasingly structured circuit. Players now have agents, responsible for defending their interests. Professionals can win several million euros if they win a tournament. Sports clubs, such as Olympique Lyonnais or Paris-Saint-Germain, have created dedicated teams, recruiting technical staff, coaches, video analysts or mental trainers.
The economy, the gray area of e-sport?
A new financial windfall? Not so sure. In 2023, the international market is estimated at 1.3 billion euros. “It may seem like a lot, but it’s nothing compared to the international sports market, which is between 500 and 700 billion”, nuance Nicolas Besombes. If since 2014, the figures have only increased, some observers fear the idea of an economic bubble. “A lot of investors exit the sector because they don’t see a quick return on investment. »
“Sponsorship contracts are on the increase, tempers Cédric O. For investors, the situation is different. It is a rapidly maturing ecosystem that is marked by imbalance because a good part of the value is captured by game publishers. » The fact that in Europe competitions are still broadcast for free on Twitch is “a nonsense”for the former minister. “Obviously, at some point, the television rights will sell. Advertising will take more space to enrich this market and satisfy investors. »
And for good reason, e-sport competitions, broadcast around the world, have no less than 495 million spectators in 2020, according to the NewZoo research firm. In 2019, the League of Legends World Championship Finals were watched more than the Super Bowl. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings himself said that his real competitor was a game like Fortnite (a game where 100 players compete on an island and only one must remain) which attracts young people in front of screens, to the detriment of a series or a film.
French ambition
France has decided, from 2020, to bet on e-sport by adopting a five-year strategy to become a major country in the discipline. “The impetus given by the public authorities is quite unique in Europe. The President of the Republic had received e-sport players with the aim of hosting the biggest competitions by 2023-2024 and this is now the case.before Cedric O.
“France is the first nation to have laws dedicated to e-sport, in particular on the supervision of the practice and the recognition of the status of professional player”, approves Nicolas Besombes. However, the means employed “are not sufficient to deploy appropriate training systems and develop a socially responsible practice”according to the specialist.
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10 million French e-sportspeople
In 2022, France had 10.8 million e-sport consumers and practitioners, i.e. 22% of Internet users over the age of 15, according to the France E-sports barometer. Six million of them are just gamers.
Among gamers who registered for at least one video game competition (online or in theaters) over the last twelve months, 94% are men, the vast majority aged between 15 and 34 (95%).
The distribution is a little more equal among practitioners who play without taking part in organized competitions: 52% of them are women. Generational diversity is also relevant, since 15-35 year olds represent only 48% of players.
During the Major of Counter-Strike, held at the Accor Arena in Paris from May 8 to 21, prize money for winners can reach $1 million.
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