Hello and Happy New Year everyone! 2019 promises to be another significant year for esports, after numerous records were broken and chasms bridged in 2018 (see IOC Forum in July). The German esports scene is becoming increasingly organized and networked, while politicians are also slowly embracing electronic sports. For example, the Esport-Bund Deutschland celebrated its first anniversary in November and can already boast a number of successes.
In our small preview of the year, we want to discuss a few topics and events that you should definitely follow this year.
ESBD club championship
New Year's Day kicked off with the first esports tournament organized by the ESBD, the ESBD Club Cup in League of Legends. All amateurs from the organization's amateur esports department were able to take part in the competition to qualify for the final at DreamHack Leipzig on 15 February 2019. In the end, Magdeburg Esports and the 1st Berlin eSport-Clubs e.V. managed to qualify for the final and will now compete for the very first club championship of organized esports in Germany.
SPORT1 launches esports channel
eSPORTS1 is the name of the broadcaster's new pay-TV offshoot, which will provide German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) with esports action 24/7 from January 24, 2019. According to the press release, coverage will focus on the major esports disciplines such as „League of Legends, Dota 2, Counter Strike, Overwatch and FIFA 19“.
The program will consist of self-produced magazines, highlight shows and live reports that will cover the events in eSports. After ProSieben MAXX and SPORT1 have already tried to reach a younger audience with esports content in the past, eSPORTS1 is the biggest and most ambitious project in German-speaking television to date. Whether the channel will be a success remains to be seen, as esports is traditionally more anchored in the internet.
The quality of its own content will probably be decisive for its success. In any case, the launch of the channel means that electronic sport has now arrived (or returned) on traditional media channels in Germany.
eSports Factory opens in Osnabrück
In March 2019, Osnabrück will open the Goals of the eSports Factory. It is a 1200m² gamer center that offers everything a gamer's heart desires: there are training and relaxation rooms, live studios, sleeping facilities and a gym. The eSports Factory is designed for both LAN parties for amateur gamers and boot camps for professionals.
Membership will cost between 20 and 50 euros, but will offer players considerable added value compared to playing at home.
Esports becomes a subject of study in Germany
From the 2019 winter semester, the University of Applied Management in Ismaning will be offering the Bachelor's degree program in Esports Management on. Although such courses already exist in other countries, this is the first of its kind in Germany. The course mainly focuses on business administration and therefore deals primarily with topics such as training optimization, fan and player structure, marketing strategies and event management.
The course is designed for seven semesters and, according to the UAS information page, can be pursued alongside a career, as there are numerous e-learning modules. However, the Esport Bachelor's degree is not really cheap: students have to pay a monthly tuition fee of 395 euros.
Esport meets tradition
VfL Wolfsburg and FC Schalke 04 were pioneers, and many others have followed their example: More and more well-known sports clubs are establishing esports departments within their structures so as not to miss out on the trend. Just recently, Eintracht Frankfurt also announced its entry into esports in 2019 and is also taking part in the Virtual Bundesliga (VBL). Although there are still discrepancies between organized esports and the representatives of traditional soccer when it comes to the definition and purpose of electronic sports (eSports vs eGaming vs eSoccer), the triumph of digital sports does not seem to be slowing down in 2019.
