Looking to Create an Esports Org? These are 5 Great Games to Start with in 2022.
Tags: Business Strategy, Esport, Gaming, Esports Market

Looking to Create an Esports Org? These are 5 Great Games to Start with in 2022. Honorable10jin Dec 15, 2021·6 min read

Esports Viewership Worldwide (2019–2024) Provided by Statista

Competitive gaming has existed long before the packed stadiums and million-dollar prize pools. Garage Super Smash Brothers tournaments and living room Halo LAN parties laid the groundwork for the current state of the industry. It is driven by passion. If you have that passion, resources, and the willingness to learn, all you need now is the right game to start a team.

Rocket League

In the current state of esports, Rocket League is kind of like the holy grail for people looking to start an organization. It’s free to play, has a huge player base, and is already a well-established esport. Its Fall Split Major in December of 2021 reached a peak viewership of over 280,000. Rocket League’s popularity has only grown since it was acquired by Epic Games, the developers of the video game phenomenon that is Fortnite. The pool of high-quality players interested in playing professionally is plentiful and through the Open Qualifiers any team could find themselves at a Regional or even a Major. After scouting three players and a coach, any new org has the potential to make a name for themselves within the Rocket League scene.

Valorant

Riot Games took the tactical shooter genre, popularized by CS:GO, added their iconic Riot flair and fixed many of the major complaints made by the community. Thus Valorant was born. In under two years, Valorant rivals CS:GO Majors in viewerships and dwarfs it in player base across the world. The VCT Championship grand finals for Valorant peaked at over 1 million viewers worldwide. The first-person shooter genre has always been a dominant force within esports and gaming in general. In addition, Riot Games is by far the furthest ahead in terms of competitive infrastructure and competitive support. League of Legends has continually been the largest esport in the world every year since 2013. Who created League you ask? Riot Games. Valorant is sure to remain one of the biggest names and most viewed esports of the years to come. If you are interested in starting a team, I would suggest entering the Nerdstreet amateur tournaments online. Five players ranked Immortal 3 or Radiant is all you need to start making a splash in amateur brackets.

Brawlstars

Mobile esports in the United States has yet to truly take off, but everywhere else in the world competitive mobile games are popular pastimes for gamers on a budget. Brawlstars isn’t the biggest in terms of player base, viewership, or even prize pool. Especially when compared to the global mobile game titans that are PUBG Mobile and Arena of Valor. This is not a knock to the popular of the Brawlstars however, whose 2021 World Finals had a peak viewership of over 170,000. In fact, Brawlstars has done something neither of those games have managed to do. Brawlstars has managed to appeal to the Western player base, even in the US. Brawlstars is product of Super Cell. Yes, the same Super Cell behind two of the most popular mobile games of all time Clash of Clans and Clash Royale. Brawlstars has all the ingredients of a great esport. It’s easy to watch, fun to play, accessible because its the free to play, and it’s constantly being updated with new characters and patches. Though this is by far the smallest game on the list in the overall esports scene, it has the highest potential for success. Brawlstars isn’t a hard game to play or understand. It does take a lot of team coordination and it also takes an investment of time to unlock all the characters. If you are looking to start a team, it would take nothing more than 3 players willing to grind the game in their free time.

Street Fighter V

The FGC, standing for the fighting game community, is one of the most beautiful things to exist in the gaming space. People from around the world, from every race, gender, and background, gather into ballrooms and venues around the world to watch and compete in fighting games. Before esports was an even term, the fighting game community existed and players compete for a few dollars and the title of the best in the arcades. It is the most secure esport. Fighting games will never die. Which is why many of them were able to transcend the collapse of the arcades and grow even more popular on consoles. Fighting games are also the cheapest esport to start a team in. Only a single player is needed to start. The complex part is choosing a player and from which game. Of the major fighting games, Street Fighter is the most respected. It has rich history, it’s as easy to understand for a viewer as a boxing match, and the talent pool is incredible. With Street Fighter V’s success and Streert Fighter VI coming sooner than later, it would be best to invest in a player now and help them travel and compete at the highest level. 2019 Capcom Cup winner Idom never traveled to tournaments much and won 250,000 dollars while still unsponsored. There are a lot of players like Idom, waiting for their opportunity to show talented they are. As an organization, research and find a player you believe in. After you find a candidate, reach out to them via Twitter dms or email. In the FGC it’s as easy as that.

Dota 2

The International is the biggest esports event in all of the World. The best teams from across the global travel to a single location to compete for an astronomical crowd funded prize pool. The International 2021 boasted a prize pool of over 40 million dollars. If you can build a team and win the International, the lives of ever person involved is forever changed. That being said, Dota 2 is an odd esport to get into. Dota is hard, I mean taking a calculus test at 5 am on an empty stomach hard. It’s in the MOBA genre same as League of Legends, but it’s not as linear. Teams can find success playing vastly different characters with vastly different strategies. Nonetheless, it’s a beautiful game to watch with some of the best moments, casters, and players in esports history. The player base for Dota 2 is small due to difficult and the immense learning curve. Finding undiscovered yet talented players and making a team would be difficult, but the reward of success is more than worth it. If Dota 2 interest you I suggest first hiring a pro player to teach you about the game and it’s community. Learn the ins and outs of basic Dota before you further invest. After that create a team centered around a currently unsigned pro. Let them scout their own teammates from ranked games online, called pubs. With some time and a bit of luck you might find yourself winning a couple of amateur tournaments. Amateur tournaments are plentiful so it shouldn’t be hard for your team to start getting their hands dirty against high level Dota players.

Final Thoughts

Now that esports is under the big lights of the world stage it’s easy to forget how accessible it still is. It was not long ago a League of Legends Mid Laner by the name of Regi started his org, TSM. Soon after it began its domination of the League of Legends scene. Now TSM has teams across 11 games, from Apex and Rainbow 6 Siege to Super Smash Bros. and Magic the Gathering. This is all possible because Reginald created a single team in League of Legends when it was still a smaller game and build a foothold within the industry. Now TSM is one of the oldest and most successful esports orgs, selling jerseys, merch, and even recently enter a 200 million dollar deal with crypto exchange giant FTX. If you are willing to commit the time and resources in to esports, success is as easy as knowing where to start.

If you have any questions or just want to talk about any esports, feel free to dm me via twitter.