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ESPORTS
SPECIAL REPORT
to mind, such as Super Mario Bros, but
include Fortnite, League of Legends and
Hearthstone. A lot of them are like chess —
they are strategy games that take a consider-
able amount of skill other than quick reflexes
or fast muscle response. When you look at
professional sports viewership, there are very
few traditional sports that can rival a major
esports tournament.
"Basically, a FIFA World Cup and the Super
Bowl — and a major esports tournament
would come in third," Segev says.
they spending any of that money on lawyers?
"The research came out pretty bleak from
a law practice business perspective," says Ron
Segev, a partner at the firm. But they went
for the sponsorship opportunities anyway on
the expectation that the industry would find
a way to make money in the future, and so far,
that expectation is being realized.
Upward trend
The video games that esports centres
around are not ones that might first jump
"When was the last time the world came up
with a new form of entertainment or a new
form of sport, let alone a combination of the
two?" she says. "I can see it in the securities
world — where investors gather to find out
about it; they're very excited about it."
After being asked to sponsor some esports
events five years ago, Segev LLP in Vancouver
did a soft piece of market research that
sought to answer the questions: Who are the
industry participants? Are they making any
money? And, perhaps most importantly, are
