The magazine Forbes has released a list of the 10 most valuable e-sports organizations in the world. It mainly includes teams that are successful in League of Legends and Call of Duty. However, the list has caused controversy: The owner of Team Envy calls it “total rubbish.”
What kind of list is this? The magazine Forbes is known for its “Most Money” and “Most Influential” lists. On December 5, a new list of “The Most Valuable Esports Companies 2020” was published (via Forbes).
The article states:
- Esports was considered a major hype topic in 2019. Celebrities like Drake and Jennifer Lopez invested in esports.
- But the Corona crisis hit esports in 2020. Events in large stadiums were canceled, merchandise sales plummeted, and media and sponsorship revenues fell. An investment advisor is quoted: “The valuation of esports is adjusting to reality.”
- After a rise in the value of the 10 most valuable esports teams by $240 million in 2019, the value of the teams fell by $150 million in 2020.
How did the list come about? Forbes says the list was created after it spoke with two dozen organizations, analysts, investors, and advisors.
The values are estimates.
US Teams with LoL Focus Dominate Top List
What are the most valuable teams? The list mainly ranks teams that are strong in games with “franchise” leagues like League of Legends, Call of Duty, or Overwatch. These leagues have been on the rise for several years.
While other games send their players on a kind of world tour, hopping from tournament to tournament, like in CS:GO or Fortnite, the “franchise leagues” are more stable.
Team Solo Mid is ranked 1 among the most valuable teams, followed by teams like Cloud 9 and Team Liquid.
These are three organizations that have been the most successful in the US League of LoL, the LCS, in recent years. The teams also have esports teams in a variety of other games.
Mostly, teams from the USA are represented on the list. “G2 Esports” is the only European team. Additionally, Korea is represented with T1 and Gen G.
Overall, the list appears to be very “LoL” heavy. 7 of the 10 teams listed have a LoL team in one of the top leagues. This seems logical, as League of Legends is considered the most valuable and largest esports title.
Team Exits Top 10 Despite Rising Revenues
This is the criticism of the list: The CEO of Team Envy, Adam Rymer (featured image), sharply criticizes the list. He took over Team Envy in the summer of 2020. The team was ranked 8th on the list in 2019, but it is no longer in the top 10 of the most valuable esports teams in 2020.
Rymer says on the platform Linkedin:
- The “list is total rubbish”
- His team was ranked 8th last year, since then revenues have increased, they have Post Malone as a new owner of the group, added a CoD team, and won the first championship
- But apparently that is all irrelevant, and they have fallen off the list
- The list is based solely on what gives the article the most reach
Esports Organizations Rely on Mix of Entertainment and Sports
In the discussion in the article, several other esports experts emphasize how difficult it is to compile a list of the “most valuable esports teams”. There is so much data and many different directions.
Moreover, organizations pursue different approaches and are hard to compare with each other.
Some esports teams are really focused on esports, while others are rather seen as media companies.
Indeed, many esports organizations are now following a dual strategy:
- on one hand, there are teams that play in the leagues like traditional sports teams
- many teams also have successful content creators under contract. For example, Myth, one of the largest Twitch streamers, works for TSM. The FaZe clan has a variety of successful YouTubers under contract, who are more entertainers
The dichotomy is evident in T1. They have Faker, a classic and highly serious esports player under contract. Yet they also have Tyler1, a controversial and quite unserious Twitch streamer. Who contributes more to the “value” of the esports organization, and how can that be measured and compared?
Streamer plays 80 hours of LoL in 5 days – Goes insane, but No.1 on Twitch
