Who wants to be a pro-gaming MILLIONAIRE? Here’s how to do it
Interested in becoming a pro esports player, raking in millions in cash prizes and a six-figure salary? This step-by-side guide will teach you the ropes.
PRO-GAMING is a lucrative career.
When you combine salary (up to £20k per month for the top pros), six-figure payouts for tournaments, and individual brand endorsements, you're staring at a million quid annually.
And, with the industry blowing up – eSports is predicted to hit $1 billion in revenue this year – now's the time to grab a slice of the action
"As eSports reaches its tipping point into the mainstream, there's no doubt in my mind that pros will achieve the same fame as star athletes," Rob Black, COO, ESL UK (the world's biggest eSports organiser), told The Sun.
But, just like the biggest names in traditional sports, pro-gamers also work their socks off to be the best.
Still interested? Here's what you need to know to get started.
1. Find your game
PC, console, or mobile – there's an eSports game out there for everyone.
If you're reading this, you're probably already a gamer, and you likely have a favourite genre.
The good news is eSports spans them all – the most popular being shooters (Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Overwatch, Call of Duty), sports (FIFA, NBA), multiplayer online battle arena games (Dota 2, League of Legends), strategy (Starcraft II), and fighting games (Street Fighter V, Tekken 7).
There's also Vainglory and Clash Royale on mobile. And even Splatoon 2 and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo fans.
For those that like to go it alone, you can face off against 100 people in an eSports battle royale on Player Unknown's Battlegrounds.
So, don't fret, you can find your niche, and then nail it (see step 2).
2. Practice - play, watch, learn
Now you've chosen your speciality, it's time to perfect it.
Of course, that requires gaming (preferably online with others) a lot.
But, you'll also need to do your research.
When you're not playing (or studying or at your day job), fire up Twitch on your laptop, mobile, or telly and watch some game streams.
Both YouTube and Facebook also broadcast game streams and live tournaments.
The most popular titles are available to watch around the clock, and you can even tune in to streams by pro-gamers.
Discord is another essential platform for those interested in going pro.
The chat app recently signed a bunch of the biggest eSports teams (including Cloud 9, Team Liquid, and all the squads from the Overwatch league).
3. Enrol in an eSports club at your school or uni
After all that practice, you may find yourself consistently winning.
That means you may be ready to join a team – if you haven't already been recruited by other online gamers.
A good place to start is at your uni – you can check if it has an eSports society by searching for it on the National University Esports League's (NUEL) .
The NUEL also hosts university competitions for League of Legends and Hearthstone.
For younger wannabe pros, there's (UK Interactive Entertainment): the trade body for the UK's games industry, which runs the UK's first inter-schools eSports tournament.
LAN parties (where gamers get together and play by connecting their PCs or consoles over a local area network) are also a good place to form teams, according to James Dean, managing director, ESL UK.
"The two biggest LAN parties are Epic.LAN in Kettering and Insomnia at the NEC Birmingham," he told The Sun. "And hundreds of smaller LAN parties also frequently take place across the UK."
4. League structures - Amateur to pro
Got yourself a team? Now you can start playing competitively.
Fortunately, there are leagues and tourneys for every skill set (from amateur to pro).
In the UK, you can join ESL Play, which is split into three types of tournaments and ladders.
There's ESL Open for newbies, which is free and open to everyone and includes small or no prizes.
The next step up is ESL Major: for semi-pros looking for guaranteed prize money.
And, at the very top is ESL Pro, which boasts limited slots for highly-qualified players, and the big payouts.
Outside of ESL, there's Faceit: an independent platform for pro competitions.
The organisation also holds its own Counter Strike: Global Offensive tournament, with a prize pool of $750,000 (£541,000).
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