Forbes magazine has released a list of the 10 e-sports organizations that are the most valuable in the world. It mainly includes teams that have success in League of Legends and Call of Duty. But the list is causing trouble: the owner of Team Envy calls it “total garbage.”
What kind of list is this? Forbes magazi
ne is known for its “Who has the most money” and its “Who are the most influential” lists. On December 5, a new list “The Most Valuable E-Sports Companies 2020” appeared (via Forbes).
The article states:
- E-sports was still considered a big hype topic in 2019. Celebrities like Drake or Jennifer Lopez invested in e-sports
- But in 2020, the Corona crisis hit e-sports as well. Events in major stadiums were canceled, merchandise sales plummeted, and media and sponsorship money declined. One quotes an investment consultant: “E-sports valuation is adjusting to reality.”
- After a $240 million increase in the value of the 10 most valuable e-sports teams in 2019, the value of the teams fell by $150 million in 2020
US site Dexerto has summarized the Forbes list in this graphic: (Source: Twitter).
How was the list created? Forbes says: The list came about after Forbes spoke with two dozen organizations, analysts, investors and consultants. It says the values are estimates.
US teams with LoL focus dominate top list
What are the most valuable teams? In the list, the most valuable are 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 and they bounce from tournament to tournament, like in CS:GO or Fortnite, the “franchise” leagues are rather stable.
Team Solo Mid is ranked No. 1 in most valuable teams, with teams like Cloud 9 and Team Liquid following.
These are three organizations that have been most successful in LoL’s US league, the LCS, in recent years. However, these teams also have their e-sports teams in a variety of other games.
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There are mostly teams from the USA represented in the list. “G2 Esports” provides the only European team. In addition, Korea is represented by T1 and Gen G.
Overall, the list seems very “LoL”-heavy. 7 of the 10 teams listed have a LoL team in one of the top leagues. This also seems obvious, since League of Legends is considered the most valuable and biggest e-sports title.
Team flies out of top 10 even though revenue increases
This is the criticism of the list: Team Envy CEO Adam Rymer (cover photo) is sharply critical of the list. The took over Team Envy in the summer of 2020. The team was still 8th on the list in 2019, but in 2020 it is no longer in the top 10 most valuable e-sports teams.
Rymaer says about the Linkedin platform:
- The “list is total garbage”
- His team was 8th last year, since then turnover had increased, they had Post Malone as the new owner of the group, added a CoD team and won the first championship
- But apparently none of that was relevant and they were kicked off the list
- The list was based only on what gave the article the most coverage
E-sports organization focus on mix of entertainment and sports
In the discussion in the article, some other e-sports experts emphasize how difficult it is to even come up with a list of the “most valuable e-sports teams.” There is so much data and different directions.
In addition, the organizations take different approaches and are difficult to compare with each other.
Some e-sports teams, he said, are truly focused on e-sports, while others are seen more as media companies.
In fact, many e-sports organizations are now operating on two tracks:
- on the one hand, there are the teams that play in the leagues, like classic sports teams
- But many teams also have successful content creators under contract. For example, Myth, one of the biggest Twitch streamers, works for TSM. The FaZe clan has a large number of successful YouTubers under contract, who tend to be entertainers.
The dichotomy becomes clear at T1, for example. With Faker, they have a classic and highly reputable e-sportsman under contract. But with Tyler1 they also have a controversial and rather unserious Twitch streamer. Who contributes more to the “value” of the e-sports organization and how can that be measured and compared?
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