“What do we need to elevate the local and regional e-sports sectors?”
This question has been on the lips of many gamers since the rise of this global phenomenon. Since the dawn of the 21st century, the e-sports industry has grown by leaps and bounds and shows no signs of slowing down.
Various sources place the global e-sports industry revenue anywhere between US$1.8 billion and $4.8 billion, depending on how narrowly or broadly the market is defined. Whatever the actual figure, the Caribbean is only receiving crumbs from this overall pie. While Saint Lucian gaming talent is evident, the country remains far behind the global market in terms of truly tapping into this lucrative subsector.
But what can be done to amend this? St Lucia Times explored the question with insights from voices within the sporting landscape, the first of which may not immediately seem relevant to the average e-sports enthusiast.
Dr Nigel Camacho, chairman of the Queen’s Park Cricket Club in Trinidad and a prominent figure in West Indies cricket, shared his perspective. The club he oversees has enjoyed massive success over the decades, producing some of the region’s finest cricketing talent, including greats like Brian Lara and Dwayne Bravo.
At a forum on IP and Sports hosted by the World Intellectual Property Organisation, Camacho urged Caribbean sports organisations to utilise the sports club structures already in place to establish e-sports arms that can serve as the foundation for development.
For example, football giant Manchester City has entered into partnerships with FaZe Clan, a gaming group, licensing their football club brand to create teams in titles such as EA Sports FC 25 and Fortnite.
“There’s so much potential here for us to embrace e-sports in conjunction with what we currently do and formulate clubs to actually drive the e-sports phenomenon,” Camacho noted. “I think for us to be able to embrace e-sports outside of traditional sports, like football and cricket, it doesn’t require big infrastructural requirements. There are superstars in e-sports that we don’t even know exist in the Caribbean already. They are signed by big e-sports productions like Cloud9 and so forth to play in the e-sports international circuit. Our region, like everywhere else in the world, is very vulnerable to economic realities.
This is an opportunity to utilise a great phenomenon to create a whole new realm of club sports in the Caribbean and the e-sports phenomenon.”
St Lucia Times also reached out to e-sports athlete Jovan Anthony (gamertag: Tohsaka) for his insights on how outcomes for gamers in Saint Lucia could be improved. Having recently participated in the Regional GrudgeKon Tournament in Barbados, Anthony believes that talent and promise are budding in Fair Helen.
“Saint Lucia definitely has the ability, as there are people such as Valdez Franklin who have both the team and the skillset to make such an event come to fruition,” Anthony said. “There are financial blocks that prevent a large-scale event such as the one in Barbados from being fully realised, but with enough promotion of competitive gaming in the country, I believe that people will be fully willing to back the train as it takes off.”
Anthony also explained that MosManiakal Gaming (MMG), the gaming group he is part of, will continue striving to enhance the local landscape.
“I think that MMG will potentially be looking at making e-sports into more of a spectacle. The crowd reactions to some of the tournaments at Animekon were incredible. You could feel the energy in the room as people cheered for their favourite competitor. That type of atmosphere is certainly something our local organisation can look to harness and utilise to propel e-sports in Saint Lucia in the future.”
For this non-traditional arm of the sporting landscape to blossom, there is little doubt that it will require vision, work and innovation.
