The South African eSports scene is getting some mainstream media attention tonight, with Carte Blanche covering the Telkom Digital Gaming League (DGL).
“The online games your parents thought were a waste of time could make you rich,” Carte Blanche said in a tweet promoting the show which is set to air tonight (16 October) from 19:00.
This year, Telkom put up a million rand in prize money for a new tournament, the DGL Masters.
Eight of South Africa’s top teams, called multi-gaming organisations (MGOs), were invited to compete against one another throughout the year, earning prize money in each competition.
The Prize money was split evenly between two games: Defence of the Ancients 2 (Dota 2), and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). Both games are owned by Valve Corp.
The DGL Masters culminated in a massive tournament at rAge 2016. Bravado Gaming won the CS:GO competition, while White Rabbit scored a major upset, defeating Bravado in Dota 2.
Both MGOs walked away with R200,000 for winning their respective games.
Bravado took another R90,000 for placing second in Dota 2, and White Rabbit received R35,000 for placing 5th/6th in CS:GO along with Aperture Gaming.
This is in addition to the prize money they won in events leading up to the grand final.
DGL Masters not the only gaming in town
Although Telkom’s DGL Masters series offered the biggest prize pool in South Africa, there were several other big tournaments this year.
Evetech hosted its Champions League CS:GO tournament in September, where Bravado walked away with R75,000 of the R150,000 prize pool. Aperture’s second place earned them R40,000.
Kwesé Sports also had the first leg of its African Championship Esport (ACE) R100,000 FIFA 17 tournament at rAge, with the finals set to be played on 19 November after a second set of play-offs in Cape Town.
South Africa also got some love from game developer Blizzard this year, with locals given an opportunity to qualify for the Hearthstone Europe Summer Preliminary.
The qualifier also had a R16,000 prize pool, with first place earning R5,000, while cosplayers and artists were also given a chance to win a share of R2,500.
Playing games not a viable career in South Africa… yet
Although the top professional gamers internationally can earn six- or even seven-figure salaries (in US Dollar), South Africa has a long way to go to get to that level.
There has been increased interest from sponsors and even game developers themselves in South Africa’s budding e-sports scene, but professional gaming is not a viable career choice just yet.
Wesley “oDu” Rose, one of Bravado’s Dota 2 players, told MyGaming earlier this year that it would take another 3–5 years before pro gaming might earn you a decent salary.
Industry heavyweight, Paul “ReDeYe” Chaloner, who was the host of The International, Valve’s massive $20-million Dota 2 tournament, offered a global perspective on South Africa’s e-sports scene.
“There is no reason why South Africa can’t catch up to the international level,” said Chaloner.
He said that regular prize money and increased publicity are the two most important things needed to grow of e-sports in South Africa.
“Telkom are doing a fantastic job, but they can’t do it alone,” said Chaloner. “Companies need to understand that they can get a lot out of eSports.”
More than one way to make money from games
While the prize money in eSports nowadays is huge, becoming a pro gamer is not the only way South Africans can make money from games.
Gamers from all over the world are making money on video services such as Twitch and YouTube.
Pewdiepie is a typical example given as a “Let’s Player” on YouTube, who makes videos of his gameplay and uploads them to the site.
However, he is also a bit of an anomaly — with over 48 million subscribers he is the most popular YouTuber on the platform, with next closest, HolaSoyGerman, at 29 million.
Forbes’s $12-million estimate for Pewdiepie’s 2015 earnings is therefore not indicative of what the typical YouTube gamer might earn.
That said, YouTubers and Twitch streamers can earn a decent living online, with their online exploits opening opportunities elsewhere in the media industry.
Another field where South Africans have already enjoyed success is video game development.
Studios such as Freelives, QCF Design, Runestorm, and The Brotherhood have built and released games that have enjoyed financial success.
Nola Payne, the head of the Information and Communication Technology faculty at the Independent Institute of Education said that the rapidly growing industry is looking for skilled workers.
Payne said that local career opportunities currently include software development, graphic and multimedia design, plot design, map design, and storytelling to create the game plan.
“South Africa already has a thriving and growing game development and design industry, which is set to explode in coming years, as leading institutions start offering major gaming-related degrees,” said Payne.
Loading ...
In order to make a career out of streaming you don’t need to be an anomaly so much as pander to an audience, and Youtube celebrities do that to a predominantly-teenage one with fair aptitude.
Read: behave in the annoying manner teenagers tend to behave, communicate to them on their level, and you’re just about crossing the finish line in terms of meeting requirements for drawing and holding their attention.
A more adult audience, on the other hand, typically has less time to spend on watching ‘streamers’ or even keeping up with their subscribed channels of nothing but reviews, rather than “Let’s Play” videos or the like.
Which is why the subscriber counts, or more specifically view counts and the direct influence that has on revenue, tend to be so much lower for those.
With that said, there is a market for those who want to pander to a more serious audience on online services; specifically, on Youtube Red or as members of aggregate reviewer/critic teams for online publications. The former could be a revenue stream which can grow. The latter is more of a means to cover some portion of one’s expenses in acquiring games (and their necessary hardware) to play, and ‘justifying’ the time spent playing said games on top of that.