ESPORTS ARE RIFE WITH EXPLOITATION

The esports industry is on track to break the $1 billion dollar mark for business in 2020. Events now take place in major stadium venues and attract massive audiences in the hundreds of thousands both physically and virtually. While game developers and esports organization executives bring in the big bucks, many at the bottom are forced to live at a wage that is insufficient to get by on.

Underpaid freelance workers and independent contractors: The massive salaries of Activision-Blizzard executives are made possible only through the efforts of young freelancers. These individuals come to the industry hoping to make it big, but they have to start at the bottom. And unfortunately that starting point is impossible to create a sufficient standard of living. For example, one tournament organizer put together events that brought together tens of thousands of competitors to play for massive prize pools in the hundreds of thousands. Despite organizing these massive tournaments, the organizer was stuck living at home with their parents. Then there’s broadcasters that host tournament brackets, oftentimes becoming a major face of broadcasts. But they’re only paid hundreds of dollars each day for a single weekend of work.

Untenable work: One former League of Legends LCS analyst was 18 years old and living with their parents when they signed on as an independent contractor for one of the league’s teams. They worked remotely for $2,000 a month, but “he felt like he was constantly on the clock.” Said the analyst, “It wouldn’t have been possible if I wasn’t living with my parents.” Despite the hope that this would be a stepping stone to bigger and better things, the employment opportunity turned into anything but. Even players face unsustainable returns for their effort, such as tournament prize pools. One Super Smash Bros. Melee player won all of $300 for placing in a tournament. They earned more in monthly subscriptions from streaming services like Twitch than from professional competitions.

Sometimes it pays to be realistic about dreams.

Ryan Goodrich

Ryan has been writing since long before he could even write. He's written resumes, software user guides, consumer electronic reviews, and myriad web content spanning a variety of industries. But now he's writing about video games, which is much more interesting.

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