Esports has always been an ever-evolving industry, with the sector looking to cement itself within mainstream culture.
To gauge how the sector has changed, every year Esports Insider asks a range of prominent industry stakeholders to review and reflect on the past year in esports.
2024 was also defined by how esports organisations and ecosystems continued to navigate, adapt and grow throughout esports winter’s tough conditions. Consolidation was a prominent phrase used throughout the year with organisations announcing major acquisitions and mergers to strengthen their position in the sector.
Read on to see how stakeholders in the sector defined esports in 2024, including which scenes showed the best (and worst) impressions.
How would you define esports in 2024?
Alban Dechelotte, CEO, G2 Esports: “2024 has been a record-breaking competitive year for G2, with more trophies won than ever before…
“We’ve also continued our growth in China — we’re the top western team in China on social media and top five teams overall vs Chinese teams. Our total VCT bundle sales were more than 50% from our Chinese fans, which is a great indication of our fanbase in the region.”
Marco Mereu, Founder and CEO, M80: Survival. Esports is coming out of its toughest stretch in the history of the industry as the landscape of esports resets to workable models and revenue structures that make sense for long-term growth.
“While many teams were focused almost entirely on sponsorship revenue, we doubled down on emerging categories such as in-game digital goods and influencer-based CPG. This has enabled us to be buyers in a buyers market, most recently acquiring Beastcoast and adding to our esports and media portfolios.
Daniel Finkler, CEO of BIG: “BIG’s standout achievements in 2024 include qualifying for the CS2 Shanghai Major and advancing to the elimination stage — a testament to our players’ dedication and performance.”
Nicolas Maurer, Co-Founder and CEO, Team Vitality: “Team Vitality’s single biggest achievement in 2024 was undoubtedly the CS2 team’s victory at IEM Cologne. As one of the most prestigious esports events, it’s an important box to tick if you want to be amongst the most legendary CS teams ever.”
Steve Arhancet, CEO, Team Liquid: “Navigating our participation at the Esports World Cup held in Saudi Arabia and then finishing second place — I think this was a true achievement on a handful of fronts.
“Our second-place finish was a result of our commitment to and consistency in many top esports titles, and it was especially satisfying to see Clem claim a title in StarCraft II. We were also able to maintain our values and compete as we are at the event, wearing our Pride jersey as we have done so for many years.”
Hicham Chahine, CEO, Ninjas in Pyjamas: “Listing NIP Group on the NASDAQ stock market was a monumental milestone for us and it certainly came with its own set of challenges. While we had to adjust during this transition, it firmly supported our plans to expand globally into key regions.
“Looking at how our competitive campaign played out, we lived up to expectations in areas — especially with our great year in the LPL.”
Craig Levine, co-CEO, ESL FACEIT Group: “IEM Cologne sold out the LANXESS Arena and attracted fans from around the world, the inaugural DreamHack Stockholm brought our most-attended European festival to the Swedish capital, FACEIT 2.0 expanded resources on our competitive gaming platform for over 30m users and our Live Legendary campaign put fans at the forefront of ESL’s 25th anniversary.
Robbie Douek, CEO of BLAST: “2024 has been a record-breaking year for BLAST across the board. What really stands out is how much we’ve grown—not just in revenue but in the scale of what we’ve delivered.
“We doubled the number of arena shows compared to the previous year, which is testament to that year-on-year growth. We have been able to ramp up our output across our esports titles, bringing Rocket League and Dota 2 into the mix.”
Michael Haenisch, CEO, Freaks 4U Gaming: “From the corporate and strategic development perspective, our biggest achievement in 2024 was becoming part of NODWIN Gaming…
“Regarding our esports ventures, 2024 was a landmark year for the League of Legends Prime League.”
Moritz Maurer, CEO and Founder, GRID: In 2024, establishing a multi-year partnership with Riot Games as their exclusive in-game data partner for League of Legends and VALORANT marked a major milestone for GRID.
“This collaboration immediately began with the start of the year — we integrated the GRID Data Platform with League of Legends and launched the GRID League of Legends Competitor Portal already in January.”
