How to organize a world-class eSports tournament and cope with force majeure

“When we found out that the broadcast of our matches was watched by about a million spectators per month - it was a completely different level of emotions,” recalls Pavel Shapkin, co-owner of UCC. For three years, his company left the regional to the international level, signed a contract with one of the Galaxy Battles majors, played out $ 300,000 in their tournaments in 2017, and also signed a contract with the largest cyber holding ESL.

We talked with Pavel about the system of organizing e-sports tournaments, finding money for prize funds and getting out of force majeure situations.

Interviewer: Julia Litvin
Respondent: Pavel Shapkin

There are about 50 people in the UCC now: what kind of specialists are needed to organize an e-sports tournament?

To organize a cyber sports tournament, it is not necessary that the company employed 50 people. Theoretically, one or two people can do everything. It all depends on the scale of the competition. We have enough 50 people to organize high level championships. In the future, this figure will grow.

I do not presume to judge, like other companies, but in our case the organization of the championship begins with the provision of a prize fund. Next, turn on the sales department in conjunction with marketing. After we find partners and agree on the list of participants, the sports department is connected. It defines the structure of the competition, invites teams, in general, creates preliminary agreements with everyone who will participate in this tournament. When the structure of the tournament is ready, marketing is reintroduced into the game, which imposes work tools on this “fish”. Together with our partners, we determine how to most effectively promote their product.

In parallel with this, you need to take care of the lighting studio, which will stream the tournament in all the necessary languages.

Perhaps that's all. The sales department together with the sports department interacts with the marketing department and with the studio, which will comment on all this. Of course, there are a myriad of small things and details, without which the tournament would fail. The business process of organizing a tournament in our company includes 30 A4 pages. We will talk more about this when we are invited to teach.

What is the difference between the organization of the event at the regional / Russian / European levels?

First of all, the level of teams that play in the championship is different. If you make a regional tournament with low-level teams, the requirements for the organization are also quite low - for example, it’s not very important what the broadcasts will be. If we are talking about a major international tournament, then the teams already have certain conditions, riders. The schedule is agreed, and it is quite difficult.

In general, the higher the level of competition, the more interesting it is to organize it. Now we are organizing a tournament in CS: GO, Dota 2, in which teams from the top 10 of the world play. These tournaments attract a huge number of people. When we found that the number of viewers of our broadcasts was approaching a million per month - we felt a completely different level of emotions, and, most importantly, this gave us a different level of resources. The realization has come that the company is becoming international. Therefore, major tournaments, despite all the attendant stresses, are incredibly inspiring.



Since we started talking about stress: do force majeure situations often occur? How do you deal with them?

The most unpleasant situation is when teams are removed from tournaments. For example, in our past championship one of the teams got a player, he urgently needed hospitalization, and the team withdrew from the tournament. There are already certain obligations to partners, the tournament and the list of participants on all news portals have been announced. We have to urgently negotiate with partners, look for a replacement team. And when a high-level tournament, the number of teams is limited and it is not so easy to find a substitute ... But these are working situations, we deal with it and move on.

Something more stressful is hard to remember. Although ... Recently, we helped organize a tournament in the Philippines, which was held at the largest indoor stadium in the world. He had the status of the World Cup, and ten days before the start he was deprived of this status. Imagine what a powerful blow this is - the organizers were deprived of half of the prize fund ($ 500,000) and rating points, which are awarded only among tournaments that have the status of major. Several large teams immediately refused to participate. I can imagine what kind of stress it is, but despite this, the tournament was held. We had a big team going to the Philippines and helping to organize. From experience - worse than this, I have not seen anything.

Is it possible to get government support in your business?

Yes, really, but, in my opinion, this is not the best strategy. A business should be self-directed, self-sufficient. Still, government support is always certain obligations, often limiting and inhibiting. It is possible to receive state support, because eSports works for young people aged 17-18, and this audience, more than anyone, is important for the state. We even attempted in this direction, but refused, because there was too much bureaucracy ... In short, this is an incomparable level of expenditure of forces and results.

Who creates the prize pool? Do tournaments always pay off?

In eSports tournaments are organized very interesting, and the same scheme works in the classic sport. First, the prize fund of the tournament is announced, and then teams are invited. The prize fund is paid, as you know, after the end of the tournament. What does it mean? This means that for business it is not necessary to have a prize fund at the start of the tournament. This creates opportunities for fraud. Therefore, cases of non-payment of prize money, unfortunately, are not uncommon. It is important to commit to themselves and sensibly assess the volume of the prize fund.

There are cases when companies first declare a prize fund, hoping to earn the necessary money over time, but they do not cope. Such cases were in Russia and in the world. We know that this happens, and we are very careful about this. Fortunately, everything is fine with us and all prize funds are paid without any problems.

What prevents domestic gaming from developing?

The development of eSports is directly linked to the development of the Internet. Accordingly, the better the Internet will develop in the CIS and Russia, the better the communications and communications will be, the faster the cybersport will develop. This is the first moment.

The second point is the solvency of the audience. A company that builds a business in the CIS, a priori, works in a market with lower customer solvency than in the European or American markets. The European audience is more solvent than the Russian at least 4 times, and the American audience - about 20 times. If companies have access to big money, they have great resources for their own development. Therefore, here we are directly dependent on the regional economy, and the better the economy in our region, the better the business develops. This is the main stop; CIS-companies cannot be self-sufficient here in the CIS-region. In any case, for the powerful development it is important to enter the western market.

What project are you working on now?

In 2018, we have planned very close cooperation with ESL (this is the largest e-sports holding in the world). He holds the biggest tournaments, and we have a deep cooperation contract signed with him. We are in their tournaments playing tours to their championships. All tournaments that are held by ESL have the status of world championships, majors, and today we have created such conditions that teams who want to play at ESL tournaments can get these slots at our tournaments - that is, go through our qualifications to ESL tournaments. This is the main strategy for the next year.

Even this month, together with our friends and partners, we first launched our product on the market: the e-sports gum Energgum. This chewing energetic, works like a Red Bull. It is designed for those who are important to keep concentration. We also plan to create your own IT product. I will not disclose the details yet.

You participate in Esports Conference . What are you planning to talk about?

First of all, about the experience of our partners: how companies that cooperate with us, went to the eSports market, what goals they set for themselves and what results they achieved. I will also tell you how to effectively interact with the cyber sports audience and which products have the highest potential in this market.