Artificial Intelligence & eSports: It Was All a Stream
The following is a speech presented at the 10th anniversary of TEDxRiceU’s speaker series. The talk took place at Rice University in Houston, Texas.
Thank you for having me. And, thank you for being here.
The Houston Texans. Houston Astros. Houston Rockets. Team Liquid and Cloud 9.
If you haven’t heard of Team Liquid or Cloud9, you may hear more about them soon. eSports is here, thanks to increasing global awareness, more platforms offering live eSports coverage, eSports revenue growth, and sponsorship opportunities. Audi, T-Mobile, Bumble, Nike, Drake, and The Weeknd (among others) spend millions to back talented teams. A recent League of Legends competition garnered more views than the Stanley Cup finals, the World Series, and the NBA finals combined. And, Intel will host an Olympics-sanctioned eSports tournament leading up to this year’s games featuring teams from all over the globe.
Why should you care? Why would anyone want to watch people play video games? To the uninitiated, it can seem almost unbelievable. Some dismiss it as a niche pastime and move on.
But, while eSports may have begun as a niche industry, it would be hard to argue that term still applies. I was apathetic until I realized that my tech realm, artificial intelligence or AI, magnifies eSports. Opportunity knocks with artificial intelligence. AI improves player-athletes, improves the game, and boosts business all around.
For marketers, eSports viewers are a prime target demographic. The audience is young, tech-savvy, and willing to embrace new things. Investors, media, technology companies, brand sponsors, and venture capital firms are catching on. eSports enthusiasts are millions of potential customers who are tuning in to watch online streams of events. There’s a reason that tech companies sponsor most of the world’s top pro teams. As an example, Samsung White, a recent League of Legends world champion team, is a group of Korean player-athletes sponsored by Samsung Electronics.
Let’s bring it home to Texas and Houston, respectively. Player talent and eSports generates a lot of money in Texas, and not just for the people and companies who develop and sell the video games. This year, eSports’ revenue will top an estimated $1.5 billion. This milestone means a new source of state tax revenue, opportunities for job growth, the support of S.T.E.M. careers, and the possibility of attracting new eSports teams and businesses to our state. Here in Houston, the University of St. Thomas, University of Houston, and the University of Houston-Downtown are home to dedicated academic eSports programs.
AI Enters the Arena
AI in eSports is changing the game. Pun intended. AI is refining talent in a way that traditional sports haven’t even seen yet. The technology changes players, teams, businesses, and large-scale data collection.
Traditionally, in gaming, players are self-taught. A player picks a game she likes, and she plays for hours on end to memorize every move, every out, and every possible win. Think of a boxer in training. A fighter finds someone of similar height and weight and invites the person into the ring as an opponent. She mimics and learns from the other person; she improves skills and builds muscle memory. In eSports, AI is the boxing partner. AI enhances the performance of humans while humans develop the teachings of the bot. The new training yields better performing player-athletes and better bots.
AI is HUGE for player-athletes, amateurs, and entrepreneurs. As tournament prize pools and viewership continue to grow year over year, the industry attracts lucrative sponsorships at an increasing rate. New players enter the scene every day. How would a player gain an edge in a competitive world? How does she better learn to defeat cunning and fast-moving opponents? Athletes turn to AI software for new-age coaching. It’s the secret weapon.
High performing players, who win cash prizes in the millions, can pay for AI tools and write it off as a business expense. eSports analytics platforms, like Aim Lab, provide AI-powered coaching to assess player stats and suggest better strategies to increase the odds of winning.
Picture a player playing a first-person shooter game with AI software running in the background. The software is recording the player’s performance. At the end of the game, a screen similar to this one pops up with observations and recommendations. Poor tracking indicates the players aren’t following the opponent’s movements well. A slow hand is when a player switches weapons too slowly. Left side weakness occurs when the player’s attention is uneven. He is too busy paying attention to activity on the right-hand side. Then, the game starts up again, offering the opportunity for a player to address these issues.
Elite gamers, who are backed by global brands, are adopting AI to gain a tactical edge. Take Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, a first-person shooter video game where multiple players can play at the same time. Here, an AI coach can teach the player favorable positions. For example, they are hiding behind a building or near a bridge to better shoot opposing players. The recommendations make the player less vulnerable to a counter-attack.
And now, in good news, AI training is no longer just for the “elites.” It is now available for those interested in purchasing a subscription, a business model similar to Netflix. Subscription-based AI training is on the market. Amateurs can pay a monthly fee to access continuously updated AI-trained models alongside best eSports players in the league.
As a conjecture, businesses are most likely to back AI-trained players. It’s an opportunity to sponsor and showcase branding on “the best of the best.”
How AI 1Ups Business & Data
Outside of player-athlete training, AI impacts business revenue and data collection. Currently, computer researchers design machine-learning systems that can solve real-world challenges. Video games are simply proxies for overcoming technical difficulties.
Again, AI trains the human, and the human trains the bot. It’s an infinite loop.
What do you do with this data? Gaming helps developers to optimize machine learning in emerging fields, like self-driving cars. That’s because a computer (just like in eSports) needs to detect objects and anticipate how others will behave.
AI presents a revenue opportunity for training firms with the promise to move the gaming world forward. eSports analytics platforms, like Omnicoach, rely almost entirely on AI-powered insights to provide coaching to professional eSports teams.
Cloud computing and data analytics are at the core of eSports. Where traditional sports have often struggled to capture performance data, the digital nature of gaming competition means that there’s no shortage of information. Cutting-edge fields, such as machine learning, exist for multiple reasons: to open up even more avenues to help players win, to help firms understand how to align their businesses best, and regulate the competition itself.
It Was All A Stream
Why would anyone watch other people play games? The short answer is simple: for the same reasons you and I watch traditional sports. If you aren’t interested in watching the world’s best on the virtual battlefield, I encourage you to pay attention to the market.
We’re in a $1.1 billion industry and growing. It’s a gold rush, and the future is bright. The increase of live-streaming and corporate sponsorships, coupled with the emergence of well-funded eSports leagues and increased investments from the technology sector, venture capitalists, celebrities, professional athletes, and team franchises, are accelerating the growth of eSports. The market opportunity for AI is booming in the eSports industry.
As an example, take Kyle Giersdorf, a recent Fornite champ. Kyle won $3M in a tournament. He took home more money than Tiger Woods ever won for a single Green Jacket. Champion pots will only get bigger.
“It’s like playing 5-dimensional chess against the world.” — Mark Cuban
In an interview with Fox Sports, Mark Cuban remarked, “I love [eSports]. It’s like playing five-dimensional chess against the world. This is a real sport, and people are going to figure it out really really quick.”
AI trained player-athletes will make eSports a slam dunk, and invite more marketers into the arena along with an expanding fan base. Embracing AI in eSports will help brands evolve to meet innovation. I, for one, am excited. Game on!
