#esports-business

#esports-business

Sportfive's gaming department, which started with just three dedicated employees in 2016, has now expanded to a robust team of 80, highlighting the agency's commitment to the gaming sector.

"There's still a small delta in the win-rates between the control schemes, with Point and Click having a minor advantage. We expect that difference will decrease over time as players gain more mastery with WASD, but we will continue to monitor this stat in the future."

The developers say they modified Mystery Heroes "to help keep the mode's casual pace intact while mitigating some of the more extreme pain points it's had in the past." Removing perks helps players clock what's going on a bit faster, but it diminishes the fun.

The Esports Foundation Club Partner Program reaches fans globally and changes the way they experience esports. Over the past editions, it has created a platform for Clubs to strengthen their brands and engage with audiences.

Personalization is a tried-and-tested way to boost engagement while gathering valuable information about existing audiences - and is proving to be a key driver for the sports industry, says Rawnet's Harry Daniel. For brands looking to score with digital marketing, personalization is a winning long-term business strategy. Personalizing the user experience (UX) via websites and apps keeps fans engaged and enhances brand loyalty. It can help brands to grow, by extending their reach to new users and unleashing untouched opportunities for victory.

Steam's chart was designed to communicate that more games than ever are seeing revenue of over $100,000 per year. This, were it so clear cut, would be splendid news. According to the chart, in 2020 just 3,000 games "earned" $100k, but by 2025 that number had reached 5,863. Let's call it 6,000 for ease. That means twice as many games are hitting this figure compared to five years ago.

However, many YouTubers have reduced their reliance on ad revenue and brand deals. There are several reasons for this shift. First, ad revenue can be unpredictable. With YouTube continually updating its policies, some creators find it challenging to secure ads for their videos, which can negatively impact their earnings. They've also realized that income from these streams can vanish unexpectedly.

For years, gambling lived on the outer edges of the video game business. It was boxed in by geography, hemmed in by regulation, and treated as culturally separate from mainstream gaming. However, the wall has now largely come down. The State of Video Gaming in 2026 by Epyllion's CEO Matthew Ball argues that gambling, especially iGaming, online sports betting, and prediction markets, has become one of the biggest forces redirecting how players use their time and money.