eSports Gets an Official Oversight Body

If you’re into gaming these days, you can’t avoid the growth of eSports. Whether you like League of Legends, are dedicated to DotA or are stunned by Starcraft, the eSports scenes for these games are huge and this growth doesn’t look to be stopping anytime soon. With amounts of money being thrown around that may soon rival more traditional sports, the ESL has seen fit to create the World ESports Association (WESA) which will lay down the standards for the growing sports.WESA hopes it will be able to bring “structure, predictable schedules and transparency” to eSports and work to define the rules governing eSports teams from issues such as player pay and transfers to team promotions and revenue handling.

WESA hopes it will be able to bring “structure, predictable schedules and transparency” to eSports and work to define the rules governing eSports teams from issues such as player pay and transfers to team promotions and revenue handling. Most importantly, WESA won’t be controlled by a small set of higher-ups, with a player council set to be created as well as two out of five of the executive board members to be chosen by teams.

Currently, 8 teams are in support of WESA, including big names in Europe such as Fnatic and Ninjas in Pyjamas, with the first game to abide by WESA rules will be Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The main issue now facing WESA is whether other eSports organizations will choose to follow it, as currently eSports are often in a fragmented state and it will require many different groups to come together to ensure WESA has a place in the future of all eSports. If it takes off, it could be the boost eSports needs to go mainstream as there is far more likely to be coverage for games known to be legitimate and players will be more able to take up the sport if they know that they will receive sufficient financial support from their team to go pro.