Mentioned in this article Games: Hearthstone

ESL is finally investing big in Brazil. The esports giant announced last week of plans to once more expand into a new promising region, beginning with the ESL Brasil National Championship in March 2016. ESL will offer a R$80,000 prize pool (approximately $20,000) in total, distributed between League of Legends, Counter-Strike:Global Offensive and Hearthstone. An offline final will wrap up the season. Most notably, ESL is opening a studio in São Paulo, where the company will be able to record and broadcast content catered specifically for Brazilian fans.

That’s not much money, is it?

$20,000 in prize money divided between three games is far from mind-blowing if compared to figures from other regions. But Brazil is not Europe or North America. In esports, the country is an emerging market, similar to how it is in the overall global economy. “Brazil is still an underdeveloped market but has great potential,” says Sebastian Weishaar, Senior Vice President International Business at ESL.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Brazil offers little to no financial benefit for its competitive scene.[/perfectpullquote]

Brazilian esports, ignoring League of Legends, suffers from a lack of substantial tournaments and regular competition on a greater scale. Back in October, Daniel Ciesla, regional head of staff at ESL Brazil, stated a “20 to 30 per cent increase in players, all games considered,” while also deploring the lack of cash prizes for titles like CS:GO. Even taking into account some other third-party event organizers besides ESL, Brazil offers little to no financial benefit for its competitive scene. “Of course there are other markets with very high prize monies, but $20,000 is a solid amount for Brazilian standards and still ahead of the curve,” explains Weishaar.

However, there are still many uncertainties about how ESL will approach its league. It is yet to be announced how the $20,000 will be distributed across the respective games, and how the leagues will be structured.

Long term investment

By opening its own studio and recruiting Moacyr Alves as ESL Brazil Director—who’s also President at ACIGAMES, an association created in order to represent and regulate the industry of electronic games in Brazil—ESL is clearly setting up for a long term investment. It is a much bigger commitment compared to 2014, when ESL held its IEM tournament in São Paulo, basically a one-shot event.

This time, ESL is actually investing in the Brazilian community. “We set up the infrastructure locally like we did in other markets. This means building up a core team as well as expanding based on the needs of the community and our partners.” And, in terms of investment, ESL is far from done.

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”There’s a lot more to share within the next six months. We will have bigger events over time. And if everything works out well, we will host a major international tournament.”[/perfectpullquote]

ESL’s commitment is a promise of a stronger future for Brazilian esports. Even though Brazil has yet to exploit its full potential, teams like Games Academy or Luminosity have already shown what Brazilian talent is capable of on the international stage. ESL’s investments, while seemingly small at a glance, is yet another indicator of the emergence of Brazil, a country that is extraordinary hungry and enthusiastic about esports.