North Texas esports showed its staying power during a challenging 2020. Can 2021 be even bigger?

It’s been more than nine months since Kyle Bautista had a normal day at the Complexity Gaming office, hanging around the proverbial water cooler to catch up with his coworkers.

His visits there are scarce now, but that was always the best part of being at the GameStop Performance Center — the in-person connections made between staff, players and coaches for the North Texas esports organization.

Bautista, the chief operating officer at Complexity, lives three minutes away from the office, but it just wasn’t safe since March 2020.

“We went into it saying this was going to be our biggest year yet,” Bautista said.

The outbreak of COVID-19 forced the world to change. Esports couldn’t avoid change either, but it looked different than the pivots of other competitive leagues like the NFL and NBA.

Esports thrived safely as players competed remotely.

Envy Gaming’s headquarters at Victory Plaza in downtown Dallas hasn’t been as vibrant and lively since March, either.

North Texas’ other powerhouse esports team had big plans for live competition and events, some of which would’ve happened at its shiny new downtown office. The teams were supposed to travel around the globe to compete in an ever-growing industry.

Ian “Crimsix” Porter of the Dallas Empire in the Call of Duty League was surprised by just how much he would miss the live events.

“I realized how much I liked to travel to these events, or even travel in general,” Porter said. “The COVID lockdown and precautions has become normal life now. Going back to our old normal is going to feel weird.”

Esports weren’t crippled like other businesses were. The industry was even lifted in some ways, but the loss of live events forced a strategy shift. Organizations learned what was truly necessary last year, and that could mean a more calculated future.

Esports are kicking things into gear for 2021, as will The Dallas Morning News’ coverage of the Dallas Empire and Dallas Fuel in the CDL and Overwatch League. 2020 displayed what esports can look like in this new age.

“We will just take this thing one day at a time, and do the best that we can, given the circumstances that we have,” Bautista said, “and try to do our part to make sure that this thing doesn’t get any worse.”

Damage control

The NBA announced the suspension of its season March 11. The moment was a catalyst for other competitive leagues to follow suit. Esports were quick to veer online, as the Call of Duty League announced live events would be sidelined for online play March 12. The Overwatch League did the same March 13, and eventually esports went remote. Even when teams would still practice and compete together, that didn’t happen in venues set up in front of fans.

This was possible because it was the industry’s real origin. The venue competition with thousands of fans consistently in attendance is still relatively new. But esports became the only team competition for a period until traditional sports leagues returned with plans.

During that time, esports were the buzz. The New York Times even reported that betting on esports went up as much as 40 times in some cases.

All the teams had to do was compete from home.

“We’ve been here before where we participated in online events a lot and it’s pretty normal in esports anyway,” Envy chief gaming officer Mike Rufail said. “It was tough that we couldn’t all be together in our facility just because it’s such a nice place to train, but they all did a really nice job of working from home.”

Esports had this advantage over traditional sports. The show went on without being a health risk. That was the first batch of damage control. Shutting down offices to crowds, like what Envy and Complexity did last March, happened simultaneously.

Now players like Porter, who won a CDL world championship in 2020, work from home like many others in the United States.

Of course organizations miss the thrill of competition in front of a rowdy crowd. Those weekends of competition were also opportunities to interact with fan bases and build brands.

But the absence of in-person events also resulted in cost-saving. Complexity and Envy aren’t using their wallets to spend money on transportation, hotels, venue renting or even food and laundry with the cut back on travel. On the other hand, organizations missed out on ticket sales and in-person merchandising.

Avi Bhuiyan entered the industry after graduating from the University of Texas’ law school in 2013. He started his own longform storytelling website, esportsguy.com, worked for Riot Games and even helped on the buying side when North Texas oil magnate Ken Hersh invested in Envy.

Some teams were relieved to save money on live events, Bhuiyan said.

“I’ve spoken to at least two teams that were essentially wiping their brow and relief that they don’t have to opt into Overwatch League costs regarding live events, venues and hosting and things like that, because those prices are astronomical relative to the revenue coming in from tickets,” Bhuiyan said.

Mid-tier teams changed some of their spending habits. North Texas’ RBG Esports, which features pro teams in Rocket League, Counter-Strike and Fortnite, hired a video editor, Discord manager and social media manager, said Michael Swann, RBG’s chief operating officer and general manager.

Both Complexity and Envy avoided pandemic-related layoffs, pay cuts and even made hires for their staffs, Bautista and Rufail said.

Despite a pandemic, Swann said he never questioned his company’s future.

“The longevity and the team was never really a question,” Swann said. “It really came down to what can we be doing right now?”

Going through changes

Financials and how money works in esports is still a mystery for many on the outside looking in. Swann even admitted it was complicated, but he explained how it was similar to other businesses.

Esports organizations can make money in a variety of ways, ranging from sponsorships and advertising to ticket sales, content creation and merchandise.

“There comes a point where you have to make a decision, like you have to come to the realization of eventually you will have to spend some money to make money or to at least be relevant in the industry that you want to be in,” Swann said.

That was his mindset before a pandemic. Allocating funds to top talent for quality teams is one strategy. That’s what Rufail has often done, as seen most evidently in the Dallas Empire team he manufactured in late 2019.

Other esports organizations have put their focus in areas like content creation, apparel and media. The top organizations are looking for a healthy medium with a mixture of these strategies.

Envy secured branding partnerships like its deal with Jack Links, but also went out and signed chess streamers and content creators Alexandra and Andrea Botez. Complexity went heavy into content creation and diversity, adding Fortnite streamers “Maddynf” and “Electra” in 2020.

Esports organizations like 100 Thieves have become a notable force as a clothing line.

Rufail has even joked that Envy needed to level up its own apparel game.

What does all of this mean for esports’ growth? Bhuiyan described this as organizations dabbling in multiple strategies, and that helps them sustain, or even thrive, when a staple like live events disappears during a pandemic.

“I think esports teams are simply just iterating fast, trying to find what works for them financially,” Bhuiyan said. “So, to be honest, I think this is happening before the pandemic and what will happen after the pandemic.”

Bautista added that revenue goals are more difficult now. Products and partnerships were the lion’s share of revenue for a substantial number of teams, he said. Having backup plans was key.

Swann’s company looked into more intimate videos showing off his team’s strategies from matches. RBG coaches would chat about their weekend games for 10-minute videos to post to YouTube. That and a social media manager was a boost to their overall engagement, so much so that they expect 2021 to easily be their biggest year as an organization.

The teams that have suffered the most, to Swann’s knowledge, were the small ones that relied heavily on live events to stay afloat. The venues themselves have struggled, as seen when Esports Stadium Arlington announced new management and saw staff reduction because of pandemic losses.

But while venues and live events saw the biggest shift during the pandemic, other esports have hurt because the lack of travel made certain locations more desirable than others for competition.

North American Counter-Strike is in a tough spot, for example. Envy let go of its CS team, Swann wants to see it revitalized and Complexity has even camped its team in Europe.

At first, Bautista and Complexity kept their CS team in Europe in 2020 to avoid anyone getting sick by traveling. That and the amount of traveling teams would do, hopping on planes every weekend to visit a new area of the world, was taxing.

“We definitely saw travel to the extent that it was maybe a little bit difficult on players from both a physical and a mental health perspective,” Bautista said. “And that’s something that, especially in CS:GO, has been talked about for a long time.”

Before the pandemic, Complexity’s CS team was working out of the Frisco office. It got stuck in Europe when the travel bans hit, then it moved from Denmark and Serbia. There was a quick visit home, but now Complexity CS is in the United Kingdom.

Bautista said he and Complexity are constantly working for their team to have a stable home, and that’s difficult. Esports showed it can evolve into what it needs to be, though. That’s enough for it to maintain course.

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Find more esports coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.