What Motivates Esports Fans? A Data-Driven Approach to Business and Development Strategy

Transcription

1 NAUM 1 What Motivates Esports Fans? A Data-Driven Approach to Business and Development Strategy Andrew J. Curley, Mark Nausha, John Slocum, and Doug Lombardi Executive Summary This thesis project explores the potential of analyzing consumer data to determine business and development strategies for video game studios in the esports 1 ( electronic sports ) marketplace. The researcher defines esports as competitive video gaming, wherein the primary action of the sport takes place in digital rather than physical space. The esports industry has experienced rapid growth in recent years, prompting developers, researchers, and fans to pursue solutions towards creating a more sustainable ecosystem. This thesis project is one such effort. Using Blizzard Entertainment s hero-based first-personshooter Overwatch as a case study, the researchers created a survey based on the Motivations Scale for Sports Consumption (MSSC), a widely-applied measurement instrument developed to study traditional sports consumers. The researcher distributed the survey digitally to fans and players of competitive Overwatch (n = 1120). Out of the ten motivating factors measured in the survey, the results indicated that two groups of factors, which the researcher identifies as Spectacle and Human Interest, directly corresponded to higher levels of Overwatch esports content consumption. Index Terms competitive video games, esports, media consumption, data collection, data analysis, business development I. INTRODUCTION OMPTETITIVE gaming traces its roots back to the arcade Cera in the 1980s, but the global esports ( electronic sports ) industry as we know it today did not begin to form until the late 2000s [1]. Due in large part to the rise of digital streaming platforms most notably Twitch.tv esports has grown rapidly in terms of viewership and events held per year [2]. The global esports audience is estimated to reach million in 2017 and grow by 50% towards 2020, with global esports awareness reaching upwards of 1.8 billion by 2020 [3]. The esports marketplace is currently dominated by three developers: Riot Games (creators of League of Legends), Valve (Dota 2 and Counter Strike: Global Offensive), and Blizzard Entertainment (WarCraft, StarCraft, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and Overwatch), but in recent years more competitors have entered the space [4]. Game developers view esports primarily as a marketing tool to drive player engagement and retention, and as such are designed to have a much higher degree of longevity compared to other video games [5] [6] [7]. The current problem facing the esports industry is that it is still very much a growing arena and therefore largely unstructured. Business models and profitability vary widely from developer to developer [7]. As the esports ecosystem continues through this period of uncertainty, all participants within (generally considered to comprise developers, publishers, team owners, players, tournament organizers, talent, and sponsors) must find reliable ways to engage with esports audiences and secure lasting profitability. Blizzard Entertainment is one such leader in this movement their newest game Overwatch, which this thesis project uses as a case study, represents what many consider to be the future of esports [8] [9]. In 2017 Blizzard will launch the Overwatch League, a professional esports league modeled after traditional physical sports organizations [10]. In a major departure from existing esports league precedents, the Overwatch League will be based on permanent city-based teams that receive guaranteed salaries for all players involved [9] [10] [11]. The researcher chose Overwatch as this thesis project s case study because of its status as arguably the most relevant esports title of 2017, its large player base of roughly 25 million people, and its experimentation with traditional sports models [8]. The purpose of this study is to provide game developers with methods to find success within the esports space while simultaneously promoting sustainable growth, specifically through data collection and analysis. Using the Motivations Scale for Sports Consumption (MSSC), the researcher has demonstrated how developers can identify the specific factors that drive esports engagement, which in turn can be utilized to guide business and development decisions. The researcher submitted this paper for review on April 6, Andrew Curley is with SMU Guildhall, Plano, TX USA ( ajcurley@smu.edu). Mark Nausha is with SMU Guildhall, Plano, TX USA ( mnausha@smu.edu). John Slocum is with SMU Guildhall, Plano, TX USA ( jslocum@cox.smu.ed). Doug Lombardi is with Valve Corporation,, Bellevue, WA USA ( lombardi@valvesoftware.com) 1 The term electronic sports is shortened in a variety of styles, some of which include esports and e-sports. For the purposes of this thesis paper, the researcher will refer to it as esports (as styled by most game developers) but will not change alternate spellings in article references.

2 NAUM 2 II. RESEARCH REVIEW Although esports has existed for many years, it has only recently emerged as an area of serious research as it establishes itself as a major industry. As such, a comprehensive body of literature is still forming. In the process of collecting resources to inform the methodology and content of this thesis, the researcher identified three subtopics: the current state of the esports industry, the impact of livestreaming video on esports consumption, and a brief overview of Overwatch, the case study game. To collect these sources, the researcher consulted conference proceeding, esports-focused media outlets, and academic databases, applying practical and methodological screening criteria to each in order to confirm their validity. THE STATE OF THE ESPORTS INDUSTRY Analysts at Newzoo Esports identified six rising trends contributing to the rapid growth of the esports industry in recent years: 1) games as a service, 2) cross-screen entertainment, 3) creator & live streaming tools, 4) video platforms & communities, 5) creation & involvement among consumers, and 6) consumers entertaining other consumers [12]. As the list implies, the esports market s value chain is intricate and has many participants. Once a more universal business model emerges, analysts expect the market to see more vertical integration and consolidation [6] [13]. The current esports industry is trending towards becoming a global mainstream market in the future [3]. This is due in large part to the value of the esports audience to brands looking to enter the space [12]. The largest demographic for both esports enthusiasts and occasional viewers is males aged 21 to 35 (Figures 1 and 2), a group notoriously difficult to advertise to due to their lack of engagement with traditional media [3] [14] [15]. Figure 1. Age and gender breakdown esports enthusiasts Figure 2. Age and gender breakdown - occasional viewers The esports industry is expected to generate $696 million in 2017, $517 million of which is comprised of brand spending (advertising, sponsorship, and media rights) [3]. Game publishers will invest $116 million in esports, but this share will not be recouped by any of the other revenue streams [3]. The lack of direct profitability does not necessarily indicate that esports is a poor investment, as these figures do not account for game sales or microtransactions generated through esports engagement [3] [6]. Compared to brands, game developers and publishers view esports as a long-term investment to drive player retention and brand recognition [3] [6] [16]. For example, Valve Corporation hosts The International, the largest annual tournament for Dota 2 (developed and published by Valve itself) and leverages its Steam digital distribution platform to crowdfund the prize pool through in-game cosmetic purchases [17]. The most recent edition of The International awarded a total prize pool of $20,770,460, the highest in esports history [3] [17]. In addition to crowdfunding elements, the Steam platform allows Dota 2 players and fans to create and download custom content in the form of maps, alternate game mods, cosmetic items, etc., and players also can watch competitive games, including The International, from within the game client [17]. Studies show a direct correlation between higher prize pools and larger audiences for esports events; in Dota 2 s case, the increase in prize pools was also directly proportional to its active user base [6]. Esports researchers have identified several emerging trends that will define the industry in the coming years. The first, and perhaps most notable, is that esports finds itself at the converging point of several other industries: game brands, media, and entertainment companies [3] [15] [18]. A notable example of this is the recent acquisition of Time Warner by AT&T for $108.7 billion [19]. Time Warner owns Machinima, an entertainment network focused on gaming-related content,

3 NAUM 3 as well as Turner, which operates ELEAGUE, a Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Street Fighter V league broadcast on both television and digital platforms [20] [21]. Similarly, traditional sports organizations and figures have begun to invest in esports teams [3] [22] [23]. With increased levels of investment and influence from these established industries, the esports ecosystem will likely stabilize and begin to resemble that of traditional sports in the future. LIVESTREAMING VIDEO AND ESPORTS Since livestream video platforms such as Twitch.tv and YouTube Gaming have emerged as the primary vehicles driving the growth of esports, it is important to study the characteristics and potential of this medium as it relates to esports audiences. This topic first gained prominence among game developers and researchers in 2014 after the Twitch Plays Pokémon social experiment, in which over one million unique users played an emulated version of Pokémon Red controlled by Twitch chat commands [24]. Through a study on Twitch Plays Pokémon by Alex Leavitt, the two largest archetypes of participants in the game were watch stream, input some commands (59%) and watch stream, don t input commands (19%), implying that Twitch Plays Pokémon is not so much a gameplay phenomenon as it is a viewership phenomenon [25]. Twitch s own statistics confirm this assessment: the original Twitch Plays Pokémon stream received over 36 million total views over its sixteen-day run, with a peak simultaneous audience of 121,000 viewers [24]. Twitch Plays Pokémon was a major impetus for Twitch to invest heavily in its Developer Success department, which aims to help game developers design titles specifically with livestreaming audiences in mind [26] [27]. Esports is perhaps the most immediately applicable genre for this movement, and as such, streaming platforms such as Twitch act as the primary content delivery source from developers to consumers. Outside of this emerging field, the existing body of work on improving the esports spectating experience relates to user interface (UI) design, such as the 2015 GDC talk StarCraft II and GameHeart: Evolving esports Interfaces with Modders [28]. territory [28]. Following Schutter s postmortem, MIT Game Lab data analyst Philip Tan breaks down the user experience of esports spectators through the lens of traditional sports broadcasts, as well as televised StarCraft esports events in South Korea, before concluding with five best practices: 1) balance aesthetics and compression, 2) illustrate invisible concepts of good play, 3) tell the story of the moment, 4) support unique individual commentator styles, and 5) build viewer excitement through timely delivery of information [28]. As esports audiences continue to grow to a degree that rivals traditional sports, it is important for developers to keep these design considerations for the spectator experience in mind. In addition to studying how fans and players consume and engage esports content, it is also important to understand why, which is the primary focus of this thesis project. In a paper titled What is esports and why do people watch it?, researchers Juho Hamari and Max Sjöblom at the University of Tampere attempted to identify the motivating factors for spectating esports using the Motivations Scale for Sport Consumption (MSSC), a widely accepted instrument for measuring sport spectator behaviors that identifies ten key motivations: 1) vicarious achievement, 2) aesthetics, 3) drama, 4) escapism, 5) acquisition of knowledge, 6) skills of the players/athletes, 7) social interaction, 8) physical attractiveness of the players, 9) novelty, and 10) enjoyment of aggression [29]. Hamari and Sjöblom collected 888 usable survey responses, and concluded that escapism, acquisition of knowledge, and the personas of the esports athletes positively predicted spectating frequency [29]. While the researcher of this thesis project agrees with Hamari and Sjöblom s assessment that the MSSC is a reliable instrument for obtaining valuable data on esports consumers, the researcher disagrees with their application of the instrument [29]. Hamari and Sjöblom targeted the general esports audience, which spans a variety of games across several different genres, each with their own business and development needs [29]. This approach is akin to polling football, hockey, basketball, and baseball fans on what they enjoy about sports in general. In order to obtain meaningful data that can be used to create action items for game developers, it is necessary to study each esports title s audience in isolation. As such, the researcher has chosen Overwatch by Blizzard Entertainment as the case study for applying the MSSC. OVERWATCH AND THE FUTURE OF ESPORTS Figure 3. StarCraft II interface with and without GameHeart In a postmortem for the popular StarCraft II UI mod GameHeart, creator Ryan Schutter describes an iterative design process guided by the spectator experience, which led to the creation of features such as more pronounced team colors on units (Figure 3) and team logos rendered in-game to mark Overwatch is the latest game released by Blizzard Entertainment, a developer and publisher with an extensive esports history dating back to the early 2000s with the WarCraft and StarCraft franchises [30]. Overwatch is a team-based firstperson-shooter with a cast of 24 heroes, each of whom occupy one of four strategic roles: attack, defense, tank (absorbing or shielding incoming damage), and support [31]. Unlike other popular hero-based esports titles, such as League of Legends and Dota 2, players in Overwatch can change their hero at any point during a match, allowing for highly fluid and tactical gameplay [8] [9] [31]. In January 2017, eight months after the game s release, Blizzard announced that Overwatch has over 25 million players for comparison, its major esports competitors

4 NAUM 4 League of Legends and Dota 2 have roughly 100 million and 13 million players, respectively [32] [33]. Overwatch officially entered the esports space at Blizzcon 2016 (Blizzard s annual convention), the site of the game s first annual World Cup championship as well as the announcement of the Overwatch League, a professional esports league that takes cues from traditional sports [9] [10]. In a major departure from existing esports league convention, the Overwatch League will be made up of permanent city-branded teams (see Figure 4 for an example), with all contracted players receiving a guaranteed minimum salary, an attempt to address the esports economy s instability and attract potential team owners [9] [11] [34]. Figure 4. Mockup of Potential Overwatch League Geographical Structure (Nate Nanzer, Blizzard Entertainment) The Overwatch League will also be the first in esports to feature a combine a scouting event where amateur players participate in a series of tests to identify future talent [10] [35]. This is similar to how the NFL functions [35]. Because the Overwatch League does not begin operation until Q3 2017, it is difficult to say whether or not its experimental structure will succeed in the esports industry s uncertain near future, but because of its large passionate player and fan base, many consider Overwatch to represent the future the esports [9]. These reasons also factor into the researcher s decision to choose Overwatch as the case study for this thesis project. III. METHODOLOGY INTRODUCTION The original goal for this research project was to break down esports ecosystems into its constituent parts, identifying the risks and challenges of each in order to provide developers with a set of best practices to not only succeed financially but also promote a sustainable model for growth into the future. The researcher sought to do this by interviewing professionals representing different pieces of the esports ecosystem developers, team owners/managers, players, talent, tournament organizers, etc. For this qualitative data to be statistically significant and reliable, the researcher needed to interview at least thirty participants from each category. To complicate matters further, because the esports landscape is currently dominated by three developers Blizzard, Riot Games, and Valve Corporation the views of their employees as well as their affiliates would not stray far from the policies of their respective companies. In response to this concern, the researcher shifted focus to esports consumers specifically. DATA COLLECTION The researcher collected the data for this thesis through a digital survey distributed amongst fans and players of competitive Overwatch. The survey design centered on the Motivations Scale for Sports Consumption (MSSC) [29]. As Hamari and Sjöblom state in their study, there are several advantages to applying the MSSC to esports: the reliability and validity of the scale has been tested and proven to a high standard, the motivating constructs that make up the scale itself are general enough to be applied to esports with little to no modification, and its use allows for the results of this study to be comparable to the larger body of media consumption research [29]. Because the esports industry has begun embracing examples from traditional sports, it is both appropriate and important to also embrace its research and data collection methods. For the motivations scale measurement portion of the survey, participants were asked to rate their level of agreement on a 5- point Likert scale with ten different statements, each representing a motivation construct as outlined in Hamari and Sjöblom s study. The MSSC has undergone several revisions since its creation, resulting in variations of the model comprised of eight or ten motivations [29]. The researcher, in accordance with Hamari and Sjöblom s study, elected to choose the tenconstruct scale: 1. Vicarious Achievement a. I am emotionally invested in certain Overwatch teams and players and want to see them succeed. 2. Aesthetics a. I appreciate the aesthetic value of highlevel Overwatch play. 3. Drama a. I enjoy the drama, uncertainty, and backand-forth nature of Overwatch matches. 4. Escapism a. Overwatch esports content gives me an escape from my everyday routine. 5. Acquisition of Knowledge a. I want to learn how to be a better Overwatch player by watching the professionals. 6. Skill of the Players/Athletes a. I enjoy watching the high level of skill in professional Overwatch games. 7. Social Interaction a. I enjoy interacting and socializing with other people who also support Overwatch esports.

5 NAUM 5 8. Personality of the Players/Athletes 2 a. I enjoy the personas of individual players and streamers. 9. Novelty a. I enjoy seeing new players and teams enter the competitive scene. 10. Enjoyment of Aggression a. I enjoy seeing aggressive/hostile attitudes and behaviors exhibited by players. [29] Table 1. Descriptive Statistics Results The dependent variable of this data analysis was collected through the question On average, how many hours of Overwatch esports content (tournaments, pro player streams, educational videos) do you consume? with the following options: 1. Less than 1 hour per week 2. 1 to 3 hours per week to 6 hours per week to 10 hours per week 5. More than 10 hours per week The survey measured several additional variables for potential future analysis, including hours of Overwatch played per week, highest rank achieved in Overwatch s competitive mode, primary platform for playing Overwatch, and engagement with other esports titles and Blizzard properties outside of Overwatch. The final section of the survey was largely optional and allowed participants to voice their opinion on the present and future of Overwatch through open-ended questions. After conducting a small pilot study with colleagues (n=8) to identify potential problems with the survey as well as determine an approximate completion time, the researcher distributed the survey along with a brief explanation of the thesis project among various internet communities dedicated to Overwatch. Although the survey software (Google Forms) does not provide tracking data to determine traffic sources, it can be assumed that most participants came from three Overwatch-related Reddit communities, which currently have a total of over 910,000 subscribers. Additional traffic came from a competitive Overwatch Facebook group as well as Twitter. The researcher did not provide incentives for participation. Over ten days, the survey received 1125 responses, five of which were disqualified due to the content of their open-ended questions. DATA ANALYSIS The researcher began the data analysis process by isolating the relevant variables to the study hours of Overwatch esports content consumed (labeled VAR0) and each of the motivations constructs (labeled VAR1 through 10 in the same order listed in the previous section) and entering those variables into SPSS. First, the researcher ran a descriptive statistics analysis on all variables, as shown in Table 1: The results indicated that on average, Overwatch esports consumers were most strongly motivated by the aesthetic value of high-level play (VAR2), acquisition of knowledge (VAR5), and the enjoyment of the professional players skills (VAR6). Conversely, participants were largely unmotivated by displays of aggression and hostile behavior among professional players (VAR10). A mean of 2.54 for the dependent variable (VAR0) indicates that competitive Overwatch fans consume between 1 to 3 hours of esports content per week. These results, while of potential interest to researchers and game developers, do not indicate whether or not each motivation construct is associated with esports consumption habits. Next, the researcher ran a correlation test, which indicated a high degree of intercorrelation among all motivating scales except for enjoyment of aggression, as shown in Table 8 (see Appendix). This result prompted a factor analysis test. As Table 2 indicates, Variables 2, 3, 5, and 6 (aesthetics, drama, acquisition of knowledge, and player skill, respectively) displayed a high degree of convergence in Component 1, while variables 1, 8, and 9 (vicarious achievement, player personality, and novelty, respectively) displayed a high degree of convergence in Component 2. Variable 10 (enjoyment of aggression) loaded high in Component 3, but because singleitem scales are notoriously unreliable, the researcher eliminated it from further analysis. Additionally, because Variables 4 and 7 (escapism and social interaction, respectively) did not load high in any component, the researcher eliminated them from further analysis. 2 Modified from Physical Attractiveness of the Players/Athletes in the original MSSC model.

6 NAUM 6 Table 2. Factor Analysis Results With a two-tailed P value of less than , the difference between average scores for Spectacle and Human Interest is extremely statistically significant, according to conventional criteria. As Table 3 shows, respondents were more motivated on average by Spectacle than Human Interest. After creating the overarching motivation groups and proving statistical significance in their difference, the researcher formulated the two hypotheses of this thesis study: H1) Overwatch fans who gave high ratings to the motivating factors that comprise the Spectacle group are more likely to spend more time consuming Overwatch esports content. H2) Overwatch fans who gave high ratings to the motivating factors that comprise the Human Interest group are more likely to spend more time consuming Overwatch esports content. In order to properly discuss the implications of these findings, the researcher ran several tests to confirm the reliability and validity of the new variable groups. To prepare MOT1 and MOT2 for data analysis tests in SPSS, the researcher obtained the total scores for each of the variables making up the respective motivations groups. Next, MOT1 and MOT2 were separately measured against the dependent variable in a null hypothesis test (see Appendix). As Tables 9 and 10 indicate, the null hypotheses the categories of each variable occur with equal probability for both MOT1 and MOT2 were rejected, which indicates that these variables exert significant influence on each other (p <.001). Next, researcher ran reliability tests on MOT1 and MOT2, as shown in Tables 4 and 5: Table 4. Reliability Statistics - MOT1 (Spectacle) Through the factor analysis results, the researcher created two new variables: MOT1 (comprised of variables 2, 3, 5, and 6) and MOT2 (variables 1, 8, and 9). The variables that make up MOT1 share all relate to the enjoyment of the nature of highlevel Overwatch play itself; therefore, the researcher identified this overarching motivation group as Spectacle. In comparison, the variables that make up MOT2 relate to attachment to specific teams and players, and thus received the title of Human Interest. With these groups identified, the researcher conducted a t-test, as seen in Table 3: Table 3. T-Test Results Table 5. Reliability Statistics - MOT2 (Human Interest) Group Spectacle Human Interest Mean SD SEM n p < % confidence interval: from 0.73 to 0.88

7 NAUM 7 Both MOT1 and MOT2 had high Cronbach Alpha values (α=.76 and.68, respectively), indicating that both motivation groups are statistically reliable and internally consistent. In order to confirm the hypotheses, the researcher broke down the sample group (n=1120) into five subgroups, each corresponding to the hours of Overwatch esports content consumption per week reported by the survey respondents. For each category, the researcher found the average total Likert score of the motivation constructs that comprise Spectacle and Human Interest, respectively (see Tables 6 and 7). Higher scores indicate a stronger level of agreement with the corresponding statements of motivation. Because Spectacle comprises four motivating constructs, a survey respondent s Likert score total could range from 4 to 20. Similarly, Human Spectacle comprises three constructs, resulting in a range of 3 to 15. Table 6. Arithmetic Mean - MOT1 (Spectacle) Hours of Overwatch content watched per week Spectacle Mean Likert total for motivations Less than to to to More than χ p <.001 Table 7. Arithmetic Mean - MOT2 (Human Interest) Hours of Overwatch content watched per week Human Interest Mean Likert total for motivations Less than to to to More than χ p <.001 The results from Tables 6 and 7 show a clear difference in the total score from survey respondents who watch the least amount of Overwatch esports content per week to those who watch the most for both the Spectacle and Human Interest categories. Human Interest displays a greater difference in score across each tier of hours watched per week, whereas the Spectacle totals indicate diminishing returns as hours watched per week increases. Nevertheless, the data supports both hypotheses. In other words, Overwatch fans who gave high ratings to motivating factors that comprise the Spectacle (H1) and Human Interest (H2) items are more likely to watch more Overwatch esports content per week than those who gave low ratings. IV. CONCLUSION This thesis project utilized the Motivations Scale for Sports Consumption to demonstrate how developers can analyze community-generated data to understand what drives consumption of esports content surrounding their games. Using Overwatch as a case study, the researcher analyzed survey data from 1120 respondents to compare levels of motivation across ten different factors with hours of Overwatch esports content consumed per week. The data produced by the survey results (see Table 1) indicated that Overwatch fans most strongly agree with statements corresponding to being motivated by aesthetics, acquisition of knowledge, the skill level of the professional players, and the dramatic nature of competitive play. Conversely, fans strongly unmotivated by displays of aggression from the professional players and slightly unmotivated by vicarious achievement. Aesthetics and drama emerge from design decisions made during development of the game, the skill-related motivations emerge from the community of players and content creators surrounding the game, and displays of aggression emerge from the game developer s policy towards player conduct, which lies squarely in the domain of community management. For Overwatch and other esports titles that see a relatively constant stream of content released after launch, as well as patches to balance the various player characters, fostering a passionate and healthy community is paramount to achieving longevity, which is a primary goal for esports titles. Because the primary purpose of this study was to determine the effect of certain motivating factors on the degree of esports content on a weekly basis, deeper analysis of the data was necessary. After a correlation test indicated that all variables except for enjoyment of aggression (VAR10) were highly intercorrelated (see Table 8, Appendix), the researcher ran a factor analysis (see Table 2). The results showed strong correlations between two groups of motivating factors across two components. The first group was comprised of aesthetics, drama, acquisition of knowledge, and the skill of the professional players. The common thread uniting all four constructs was the enjoyment of high level play itself, prompting the researcher to name this group Spectacle. The second group was comprised of vicarious achievement, the personalities of the professional players, and the enjoyment of new players and teams entering the competitive scene. Because these constructs all related to the professional teams and players rather than the game itself, the researcher named this group Human Interest. A t-test of these overarching groups revealed that the difference between the two was extremely statistically significant, with Spectacle returning an average higher score (see Table 3). Additional testing showed that the correlations between each group and hours of Overwatch esports content watched per week was statistically reliable and valid (see

8 NAUM 8 Tables 4 and 5). Furthermore, the researcher confirmed a positive association between each motivation group and esports content consumption levels (see Tables 6-7 and 9-10). The motivations of escapism, social interaction, and displays of aggression produced no significant correlation to esports consumption habits in the data. Creating overarching motivation groups by finding patterns in individual constructs is useful for game developers because it allows them to interpret general goals in ways that best leverage their unique strengths and resources. In the case of Overwatch, the fact that esports fans motivated by human interest elements are more likely to consume more content is of particular relevance to the upcoming Overwatch League. This data validates Blizzard s business decision to create a citybased league structure in an attempt to cultivate loyalty to local team brands. Developers can also analyze the individual constructs that make up motivation groups in order to create more specific action items for design or development decisions. For example, one of the constructs that makes up the Human Interest motivation group in this study is novelty, which describes enjoyment of new players or teams entering the competitive scene. This validates Blizzard s decision to introduce a combine system to the Overwatch League, which provides amateur players an opportunity to rise to the professional level. Based on the data, Blizzard might engage with esports consumers more by creating promotional content specifically centered around the Overwatch League s combine, during which amateur players will compete in a series of tests to earn spots on the league s professional teams. While the Human Interest motivation group largely pertains to business strategy surrounding Overwatch esports, the Spectacle group involves both business and design strategy. The spectator s experience involves not only the game of Overwatch itself, but also how the esports media content is created and presented to them. The aesthetics construct pertains to the core art vision of the game character design, environments, and animations which is solidified prior to release. Similarly, the drama construct relates from the game design in Overwatch s competitive mode, each match consists of an attack and defense round. Because the data from the survey validates these design decisions, any future content should follow the precedent Blizzard set in pre-release development. Compared to aesthetics and drama, the latter two motivations that comprise the Spectacle motivation group, acquisition of knowledge and enjoyment of displays of skill, depend entirely on the community of high-level Overwatch players and content creators. From a business strategy perspective, cultivating a strong relationship with this community is key to increasing the longevity of Overwatch as a new esport and intellectual properity. This is achieved not only through strong community management, but also through the creation of improved spectator tools that allow commentators and in-game camera operators to better highlight important plays and displays of skill. Philip Tan s best practices for designing spectator user interfaces, is of particular relevance here: 1) balance aesthetics and compression, 2) illustrate invisible concepts of good play, 3) tell the story of the moment, 4) support unique individual commentator styles, and 5) build viewer excitement through timely delivery of information [28]. Overwatch has seen improvements to its spectator mode over time, including giving users smooth camera movement and the ability to bookmark static camera positions throughout each map [35]. The results of this project differ significantly with that of Hamari and Sjöblom s study. They reported that escapism and enjoyment of aggression were positively associated with esports consumption, while enjoyment of aesthetics was negatively associated with consumption [29]. Both studies found that acquisition of knowledge and enjoyment of novelty positively associated with esports consumption [29]. It should be restated that Hamari and Sjöblom surveyed a general esports audience rather than communities surrounding specific games, which may explain the sharp variance in the two studies results [29]. Compared to other esports titles, Overwatch is praised for its vibrant art style and the quality of its characters, environments, and animations. This could explain why competitive Overwatch fans are more motivated by aesthetics than the general esports audience [9]. Similarly, Blizzard takes a hardline stance against aggression, commonly referred to as toxic behavior, in its player base, which may also explain why enjoyment of aggression factors less in Overwatch fan motivation to consume esports content than other factors. LIMITATIONS AND FURTHER RESEARCH The primary purpose of this study was not only to collect data on Overwatch esports, but also to provide the esports industry at large with a model for studying why fans engage with esports content. As such, future research should apply the Motivations Scale for Sports Consumption other esports games and their communities for comparison with the Overwatch results and with each other. The aggregate of these isolated studies may result in similarities with Hamari and Sjöblom s findings. Although the MSSC has been proven to be valid and reliable instrument for studying sports spectators, other scales may be more appropriate for measuring esports motivations specifically. Thus, it is perhaps in the esports industry s best interest to develop its own measurement scale as a counterpart to the MSSC, iterating and proving both reliability and validity through many studies over a long period of time. Because the esports ecosystem is currently growing and experimenting with different structures, it is important that researchers repeat studies like this thesis several times per year to track how fans engage with esports content over time. The fact that the results of this study validate Blizzard s esports strategy may originate from the fact that the data used was self-reported by self-selected survey takers. They are likely to be more engaged with Overwatch esports content than the average or casual esports consumer. Thus, future studies could address this by incorporating data from Overwatch esports content on Twitch and YouTube, including time watched per user, keyword analysis from chat logs, the number and degree of financial transactions during the stream (donations and subscriptions), and the content of the videos themselves. As mentioned in the Methodology section, the survey collected data on several variables not analyzed in this study, including age ranges, primary platform, hours of Overwatch played per week, highest rank achieved in the game s competitive mode, and esports consumption outside of and in addition to Overwatch. Several interesting studies could emerge

9 NAUM 9 from this collection for example, comparing esports content engagement between console and PC players, between higher and lower ranked players, players who only consume Overwatch content and those who follow a variety of titles, etc. As with the motivation analysis, these variables could also be surveyed among other esports communities for comparison with Overwatch and with each other. V. REFERENCES [1] British Esports Association, "A brief history of esports and video games," 6 December [Online]. Available: 1.html. [2] B. Popper, "Field of streams: how Twitch made video games a spectator sport," 30 September [Online]. Available: [3] Newzoo Esports, "2017 Global Esports Market Report," Newzoo, San Francisco, [4] Newzoo Esports, "Most Watched Games on Twitch - February 2017," Newzoo, San Francisco, [5] D. Hiltscher, "Inside the e-sports Ecosystem: A Business Overview," in GDC Next, Los Angeles, [6] J. van Dreunen, "Esports: The Market Brief 2015," SuperData Research, New York, [7] P. van den Heuvel, "Esports Revenues Deep Dive: The Esports Economy is Expanding Rapidly but ROI is Still Limited," 28 February [Online]. Available: [8] Blizzard Entertainment, Overwatch, Irvine: Blizzard Entertainment, [9] R. Gilliam, "How Blizzard is making Overwatch a successful esport, and where it needs to improve," 16 November [Online]. Available: d-overwatch-blizzcon-esport. [10] Blizzard Entertainment, "Overwatch League Homepage," [Online]. Available: [11] M. Handrahan, "Blizzard's Overwatch esports league to emphasise financial stability," 7 November [Online]. Available: blizzards-new-overwatch-esports-league-to-emphasisefinancial-stability. [12] Newzoo Esports, "2016 Global Esports Market Report: An Overview of the Esports Market and Its Valuable Audience," Newzoo, San Francisco, [13] E. Souza, "The esports Industry to Date: The Drivers Behind Current and Future Growth," in esports Conference, San Francisco, [14] Newzoo, "The US Esports Audience 2016," 26 July [Online]. Available: [15] Newzoo Esports, "Why Sports & Brands Want To Be In Esports," Newzoo, San Francisco, [16] S. Plott, C. Radtke, B. Goldhaber and R. Breslau, "The Business of Esports (Panel)," in Red Bull Battlegrounds, Washington, D.C., [17] Valve Corporation, Dota 2, Bellevue: Valve Corporation, [18] G. Crawford, C. Morgan, M. Mimms, D. Sacco and J. Williams, "The Opportunities of esports," in esports and the Future of Sport, Manchester, [19] AT&T, "AT&T to Acquire Time Warner," AT&T, Dallas, [20] Machinima, Inc., "Machinima," Machinima, Inc., [Online]. Available: [21] Turner, "ELEAGUE," Turner, [Online]. Available: [22] S. Soshnick, "Former NBA Player Rick Fox Buys esports Team Gravity," Bloomberg Technology, 18 December [23] D. Rovell, "76ers acquire esports teams Dignitas and Apex," ESPN, 26 September [24] Twitch, "TPP Victory! The Thundershock Heard Around the World," 1 March [Online]. Available: [25] A. Leavitt, "TwitchPlayedPokemon: An Analysis of the Experimental Interactive Phenomenon," in GDC Next, Los Angeles, [26] J. Gleason, "Announcing Twitch Developer Success," 15 March [Online]. Available: [Accessed 21 March 2017]. [27] B. Van Dusen, "Built for Broadcasting: The Coming Era of Game Design for Interactive Live Video Communities," in Game Developers Conference, San Francisco, [28] R. Schutter and P. Tan, "StarCraft II and GameHeart: Evolving esports Interfaces with Modders," in Game Developers Conference, San Francisco, [29] J. Hamari and M. Sjöblom, "What is esports and why do people watch it?," University of Tampere Game Research Lab, Tampere, [30] Blizzard Entertainment, "Blizzard Timeline," Blizzard Enteratinment, [Online]. Available: [Accessed 21 March 2017].

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11 NAUM 11 VI. APPENDIX Table 8. Inter-Item Correlation Matrix Table 9. Hypothesis Test Summary MOT1 (Spectacle) Table 10. Hypothesis Test Summary MOT2 (Human Interest)