Things I care about more than eSports:

[xbomber]

Bogies are more interesting. My dad in law may need his hernia patched up, which is also more interesting. He's fat. That is more interesting too.

 

[The Wolf Of Wombourne]

You don't need to care about eSports. It's been explored to help the football team at the end of the day as another source of income.

If you’ve listened to Jeff Shi I think it’s past exploring now, it’s all he wanted to talk about until Philips tried to steer him away from it

 

[Mile End Wanderer]

Brand value is important but saying we’re more corporate than a football club worrying indeed

 

[LosgallardosWolf]

I quite like Little Mix

 

[ombyman]

1. Socks

2. The colour grey

3. Gravy

I think I like gravy more than wolves

 

[ombyman]

Do e sports "players" compete against others while others watch?

If yes, it's no less a sport than snooker or darts. Not all sports get you sweaty and in close proximity to members of the same sex.

I am worried about how you play darts and snooker

 

[JOSWolf]

Episodes of Steptoe and Son on repeat.

 

[WasStefan]

Boobies

 

[Munich_Wolf]

you forgot to say FACT

Its very generational....would be interesting to see the ages next to each of these posts.

I'm 40 and hadn't played games in years until covid happened now find it a good way of chatting with mates couple times a week.
I find it all fasinating as my background is broadcast tv anyway so interesting to see where its all heading.

My opinion is very much in both camps I don't think its a sport but there is a lot of skill needed to do it at a high level.
It does open up discussions about was is classed as a sport is it an athlete physically or mentally.

I'm 51 and have been a gamer since I was 11 or something so whilst I recognise its value in itself, calling it a sport is crazy

 

[YouGottaRaulWithIt]

You don't need to care about eSports. It's been explored to help the football team at the end of the day as another source of income.

No it won't. ESports will make money for Fosun, as will the partnership with Mendes. Wolves are there to support these other ventures.

 

[Rhoswolf]

Before answering can anyone estimate the actual revenue the football club gains from e.sports and the predicted revenue over the next 5 years, unless substantial it's a total irrelevance to me

 

[Wednesbury Wolf]

Before answering can anyone estimate the actual revenue the football club gains from e.sports and the predicted revenue over the next 5 years, unless substantial it's a total irrelevance to me

Unless we're shown proof we have to assume that the football club don't get anything from esports as that was never the point it was entered into in the first place. The football side now appears to be a sideline and it stinks.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

I'm 51 and have been a gamer since I was 11 or something so whilst I recognise its value in itself, calling it a sport is crazy

It's as much a sport as Darts is tbf. Based on reactions, pattern recognition and massive amounts of repetition. Although your average League of Legends team probably weigh they same as one of the competitors in Darts

 

[sc91]

It's as much a sport as Darts is tbf. Based on reactions, pattern recognition and massive amounts of repetition. Although your average League of Legends team probably weigh they same as one of the competitors in Darts

The lifespan of someone in esports is a year or two at best though, its a high turn over and whilst popular across the boards, it is hugely dependent on the game popularity.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

The lifespan of someone in esports is a year or two at best though, its a high turn over and whilst popular across the boards, it is hugely dependent on the game popularity.

Counter Strike tournaments been running for over 20 years and the prize pool last year was over $21M. Think the PDC is at about $18M comparatively?

 

[sc91]

Counter Strike tournaments been running for over 20 years and the prize pool last year was over $21M. Think the PDC is at about $18M comparatively?

The lifespan of teams. Plus the prize pool is rather deceptive seeing as the amount of sponsorships occurs. More so saying, esports is a notoriously difficult nut to crack, and again, highly depending on the game of choice being popular.

 

[Deleted member 8455jwf]

The lifespan of teams. Plus the prize pool is rather deceptive seeing as the amount of sponsorships occurs. More so saying, esports is a notoriously difficult nut to crack, and again, highly depending on the game of choice being popular.

Yeah for sure, esports sponsorship absolutely dwarfs Darts but you are correct I'd only feel confident in FIFA, League and CSGO if I was investing.

 

[sc91]

Yeah for sure, esports sponsorship absolutely dwarfs Darts but you are correct I'd only feel confident in FIFA, League and CSGO if I was investing.

Oh for sure and even at the top end you are really really going to be pushed to get to that top. Those three are notoriously tough nuts to crack, that's not to mention things like DoTA, WoW etc etc.

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

Forgive my complete ignorance, but is it called eSport because people are playing electronic versions of actual sports (while realising that doesn't make it sport), or because it is sport, but played electronically via a control panel from a chair (imagining that is a sport)?

 

[YouGottaRaulWithIt]

Oh for sure and even at the top end you are really really going to be pushed to get to that top. Those three are notoriously tough nuts to crack, that's not to mention things like DoTA, WoW etc etc.

Sorry I haven't got a scooby what you are talking about. Can you tell us how Fosun investing in eSports, and using the Wolves brand, will actually make money for the club?

 

[CelebrityWolf]

Actually saw my first esports set up the other day when i went into a Walmart here in Arizona. A small collection of spotted teens playing race car and other games while mum shops, its the future.

 

[sc91]

Sorry I haven't got a scooby what you are talking about. Can you tell us how Fosun investing in eSports, and using the Wolves brand, will actually make money for the club?

I don't think it will unless the people in the team are actually good and the game of choice(s) are popular.

 

[lobodelsur]

And yet they can. I have no interest in them whatsoever, but tourists do! In 2017 Brand Finance did a report that estimated they bought in £1.7bn that year

Thats a fallacy. Tourists come to look at the buildings - Buck Palace, Windsor, Balmoral. A bit like (considerably more) tourists go to France to look at Versailles, the Chateaux on the Loire, Avignon etc...

 

[JamesWolves]

Yeah for sure, esports sponsorship absolutely dwarfs Darts but you are correct I'd only feel confident in FIFA, League and CSGO if I was investing.

Add Dota to that list aswell, outside of those 4, no games comes close

 

[sedgwolf1980]

Struggling to comprehend how some spotty Korean nerds ****ing into a sock in their bedroom is going to transform our football club, but apparently it’s the only way we can challenge the top 6 apparently.

Weirdly, I thought the other way we had a few years back of getting a top coach, the worlds most powerful agent and a decent chunk of cash was more successful but what do I know.

 

[Timberwolf]

I’m old enough to remember when Gamer was a homophobic slur…and queer, yet I read that in The Guardian almost daily.
With my lentil eating and sandal wearing loony lefty opinions, I’m decidedly unsure what to get offended on behalf of other people for. It’s not just a little discombobulating.

 

[Oh When the Wolves]

August 6th - You can shove your e sports up your ****

 

[sillytuna]

I'm 51 and have been a gamer since I was 11 or something so whilst I recognise its value in itself, calling it a sport is crazy

You'll find millions upon millions disagree with you. eSport is a class of sports, not a sport tho.

Some esports have been around a very long time now - eg counterstrike.

 

[Wolf316]

Boobies

Boobies are better than everything.

 

[sillytuna]

Struggling to comprehend how some spotty Korean nerds ****ing into a sock in their bedroom is going to transform our football club, but apparently it’s the only way we can challenge the top 6 apparently.

Weirdly, I thought the other way we had a few years back of getting a top coach, the worlds most powerful agent and a decent chunk of cash was more successful but what do I know.

It's about brand recognition, particular in younger age groups. I also think you're knowledge of esports may be slightly lacking!

I doubt it's using much in the way of resources whatever your views.

Fwiw the financial models around esports are still very tricky. The saudis recently spent significantly on acquisitions - esportswashing is alive and kicking too!

 

[The Wolf Of Wombourne]

Before answering can anyone estimate the actual revenue the football club gains from e.sports and the predicted revenue over the next 5 years, unless substantial it's a total irrelevance to me

The wolves Esports Roster is absolutely Z tier to be honest, if you look the players up on twitter you can see they have very small followings etc.

This is what I don’t understand, Esports teams need a lot of investment to grow and when you look at some of the top well known teams around the world they are worth in the 100’s of millions of dollars. 100 Thieves for instance which is part owned by Drake are worth nearly 500 mil, they brought in around 40 mil in revenue in 2021, that’s a lot but they are absolutely huge and have some massive well known players and creators especially in the States.

The ‘success’ Jeff keeps talking about is Evil Geniuses who Fosun brought a small minority stake in, I can’t actually find out how much but they value themselves at 255 million and were established 23 years ago … I therefore wouldn’t expect Wolves to be able to grow an Esports brand at any rate where we will see returns for the first team of any significance.

This is a gimmick we are playing at imo.

 

[The Wolf Of Wombourne]

Counter Strike tournaments been running for over 20 years and the prize pool last year was over $21M. Think the PDC is at about $18M comparatively?

And tbf the org that wins it, after paying the players, takes home relatively small beer in comparison to prem tv rights and prize money.

It’s also dominated by Esports heavy weights like faze who have serious backing and investment behind them and serious knowledge. Unless Fosun invested heavy they wouldn’t get anywhere near and if they did it would make it even less likely Wolves would see any benefit.

 

[WolfInSheep'sClothing]

6) fSports
7) gSports

 

[Bugsy911]

Esports can go where the sun don't shine.

We are a football club not a brand , what a truly awful set of videos that have been released, feel worse now than before them and I wasn't feeling great about us then.

 

[sillytuna]

Esports can go where the sun don't shine.

We are a football club not a brand , what a truly awful set of videos that have been released, feel worse now than before them and I wasn't feeling great about us then.

That's a problem with modern football unfortunately. If you don't want that, understandable, go lower league.

Re: eSports - I'm dealing with some of this professionally, lightly at least. It's super tricky to monetise and the chances of a wolves brand being huge are very slim indeed. To be meaningful it'd be a massive and risky exercise.

As long as it's not sucking resources then it's not really an issue. The real problem lies in PR. while youngsters may lap it up, football has an aging audience and this is being seen as a major problem by clubs now. This is why you're seeing esports discussed so much but also why not considering your existing fan base is a real PR faux pas.

 

[Sedgley Gold N Black]

The e-sport twitter account has 16k followers (I’d wager the majority just follow it as another spin off account vaguely linked to the first team).

The official account is in excess of 1m.

Even the one wolves lad who does football manager content (who Wolves for some inexplicable reason didn’t partner with) is just a few thousand behind the official esports team.

I’d say the e-sports venture has been a bit of a failure based on those stats.

 

[freezin]

1) Trombones
2) Book marks.

 

[Fenrir_]

Forgive my complete ignorance, but is it called eSport because people are playing electronic versions of actual sports (while realising that doesn't make it sport), or because it is sport, but played electronically via a control panel from a chair (imagining that is a sport)?

eSports just because people are competing against each other electronically, could be called eGames I guess. It's just the age old game of finding out who's the best at x/y/z. The only eSport I'd say is anywhere near a real life sport (yes I'm biased!) is sim-racing. Doubt any people have got a football career off the back of being good at FIFA but quite a few have had real life racing careers off the back of a computer game (Google ex-Wolves player Steve Mardenborough's son, Jann, for an example)

Personally I doubt Wolves are chasing the prizes on offer from the competitions in this field, I think they're trying to be as well recognised as possible in the gaming industry and then want to make money off licensing things that can be bought through micro transactions. Fortnite is a good example, the amount of in-game purchases you can do on that is insane. If Wolves had a few licensed 'skins' and they have a few million 'fans', some of them happy to spend a couple of quid just to make their character look different (which is what people do), you can start to see where there's an opportunity to make money

I think too many are getting hung up on it to be honest, I highly doubt the money we're spending on eSports has any impact on what we can do for our team on the pitch, and if we do maximise its potential then it should give us an extra income that might be able to help bridge the gap, definitely worth exploring in my opinion

 

[Eastyorksyeltz]

I really struggle to see why the whole e-sports thing has apparently caused so much upset? I get the impression some people would have been happier if they had said the future strategy was to generate funds through narcotics and people trafficking. (As long as they gave assurances it would remain a local club, for local people, of course.)

 

[TheConcourse]

Kinda feel like Jeff could do worse than to actually publish more of the journey into other areas.

The content wouldn’t need to come from him directly, but it would be great to behind the scenes and see this thing grow.

That might be the thing that keeps the local fans semi-involved in the progress/potential. We deserve insight at the very least.