Malta targets competitive video gaming and esports market

Malta will seek to enter the esports market to attract events and developers to the island, in what is considered to be a new frontier for the island’s economy.

One of the proposals stemming from Budget 2019 is an aggressive move to form a cluster for the eSports world, which comprises competitive and professional video gaming.

Most commonly, esports take the form of organised, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players. Although organised online and offline competitions have long been a part of video game culture, these were largely between amateurs until the late 2000s when participation by professional gamers and spectatorship in these events through live streaming saw a large surge in popularity.

By the 2010s, esports was a significant factor in the video game industry, with many game developers actively designing toward a professional eSport subculture.

By 2019, it is estimated that 427 million people worldwide will be watching some form of esports. The increasing availability of online streaming media platforms, particularly Panda.tv, YouTube and Twitch.tv, has become central to the growth and promotion of esports competitions.

The global esports market generated US$325 million of revenue in 2015 and was expected to make $493 million in 2016; the global esports audience in 2015 was 226 million people.

Poland is one of the fastest growing esports markets in Europe. As a result, the number of teams and tournaments hosted in Poland continues to grow, altogether making this market a melting pot of business opportunities for investors from around the world.