Johan ‘N0tail’ Sundstein has done it all. He’s the highest-earning esports player of all time, he has secured some of the most prolific trophies in competitive gaming, and he contributed to the foundation of both OG Esports and Team Secret. He was named in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 and started competing at just fifteen years of age.
Sundstein took to the stage at ESI Lisbon to appear in a ‘fireside chat’, clueing the audience in about his experiences with the esports industry and how he thinks everything is going, given recent struggles.
‘It’s Stabilising’
Johan Sundstein is perhaps one of the best-placed individuals to talk about the esports industry. He has been there since the sudden uptick took place that saw millions of fans pulled into the esports ecosystem, and he has contributed more to the industry than almost every other personality in the space.
Speaking at ESI Lisbon, Sundstein said:
Where we’re at now, I think when esports went really high up a lot of investments were made, but I will also say that probably a lot of money was burnt. And now, I think it’s stabilising a bit. It went down, COVID happened to everyone, but I think we’re seeing a lot of interest from different regions in the world that are also ready to invest.
The esports industry has wavered in recent years in terms of financial struggles, viewership, and the need for organisations to diversify as much as possible just to make ends meet. There are a few outliers standing firm against that line of thinking, though. For instance, last year’s League of Legends World Championship event broke peak records, pulling in more than six million concurrent viewers.
N0tail remains optimistic – and more importantly, realistic:
I think games are not going anywhere. For as long as humans have been around, we’ve been practising sports and games in different shapes and forms. As long as we are around, I think people will continue to make games and those games will only continue to get better.
I think the future is electronic, mostly. I don’t think sports is going anywhere, like it’s not going to die off, but I do think that the majority of our new games will be digital and electronic.
Sundstein remarked that ‘we’re all in the same boat’, speaking about fans, spectators, organisers, and even team leaders and founders like himself. He said, ‘We’re all the same people in the same boat trying to enjoy the same thing together.’
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