HLaw virtual panel: with the world indoors, esports comes of age…?

With the world at differing stages of lockdown and just about all major sporting events worldwide cancelled or postponed, entertainment from traditional sports is in short supply.

HLaw wanted to explore whether now is the chance for esports to shine.

Yes, we know that esports has been big in Asia and parts of the US for a while, and really big in places like Korea.  But in the UK and much of Europe, esports as a sector has been poorly understood and something of a niche subject area.

But as we go into the ‘new normal’ and what will probably be many months if not years to come where differing forms of social distancing will be in play, we put together a stellar panel that met earlier this week to discuss what this all means for esports.

And here is a Venn diagram we knocked together to show how we thought that the gaming industry, media corporations, traditional sports, pro sports teams and venture capital could or were already overlapping with esports at the centre:

Venn diagram: what industries overlap to form esports?

On the panel were:

Rowena Samarasinhe – Sports Lawyer and Commercial Consultant, GENSport

Oliver Weingarten – Co-founder of esports venture, LDN Utd

James Governor  –  Gamer, Advisor to the British esports Foundation

Oli Hammond – Investor, Fuel Ventures

Sean Hung  – Esports Investor, HZL Capital

And Lucy Ganbold from HLaw was the moderator.

We hope to organise another panel to discuss the topic in front of a live audience in the weeks to come. Please do reach out to Lucy Ganbold (lucy@humphreys.law) if you would like to (virtually) attend.

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