eSports and streaming: A new job opportunity?
eSports have become popular in South Africa and while there are still some challenges, some students are already participating in online tournaments, and sometimes make money from their gaming passion.
Jacques Bouwer (25), a third-year BA psychology student at North-West University (NWU) who has played in one of the South African DOTA 2 leagues, said, “It is a really competitive environment even here in South Africa.”
The Defence of the Ancients (DOTA) 2 league is a multiplayer online battle arena video game that offers people the opportunity to create their own tournaments and competitions. These can be local, national, or international. This year’s big tournament kicked off on 22 April and will last until 4 June 2022.
According to Statista, DOTA 2 is one of the largest leagues in eSports, with a prize pool of $40 million, that will be divided between the team and the organisation that the team belongs to. Even though the prize pools are huge, talented eSports players that are signed by organisations also get paid a salary.
Forbes reported that the top 10 most valuable eSports companies are worth a combined total of $3.5 billion. Choosing a game for competing in eSports can directly affect the amount of money you can earn, as more competitive games such as DOTA 2 can gather more attention.
Besides earning a salary and winning prize money, some professional gamers also earn an income from streaming over platforms like Twitch and Facebook gaming. People live-stream themselves playing games on Twitch and Facebook gaming and can earn money from endorsements. The most popular streaming platform is Twitch, with an average of 140 million active users monthly. Facebook gaming has more than 350 million monthly active users.
Streaming has become popular because anyone can do it if they have the correct equipment. The PlayStation 5 (PS5) has made streaming easier with its newly built-in streaming software Share Factory, which allows you to directly stream your games from your PS5 without needing to run your stream through a video card. To stream on Twitch through the PS5, all you need is a PlayStation HD Camera.
Your income will depend on your subscribers and how much you stream . According to CreditDonkey a typical expert streamer makes between US$3000 and US$5000 per month by playing 40 hours a week. Students who want to make money from streaming on Twitch, need to be affiliate members to earn money from Twitch Bits and subscriptions.
Professor Verona Leendertz (49), director of technology enhanced learning and innovative education and training in South Africa (TELIT-SA), said, “games are becoming more popular in higher education, as some of my PhD students create games for research purposes.”