The one billion dollar myth: Methods for sizing the massively undervalued esports revenue landscape

It is our contention that the 2019 esports industry’s revenue size is massively undervalued at $1.1B USD within the literature. This paper provides a more accurate sizing of the esports landscape, incorporating into the analysis six major sectors of the esports industry: 1) teams, professional players, and streamers, 2) game publishers, 3) streaming platforms, 4) physical products, 5) leagues and tournaments, and 6) digital tools. Each sector is discussed separately, with descriptions of the business models and corresponding revenue equations that drive each sector’s revenue estimates. Overall, we purport that $24.9B USD is a more accurate estimation of the “true” market size of esports for 2019.