Monday 1 January 2018

Growth in Participation: Choosing the correct titles.


As we have already seen in my article titled Growth in Participation: effects of Sponsorship., sponsorship plays an important part in the growth of participation.

However, as important, is the choice of game titles.

Choosing the wrong titles can kill an organisation, and Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) has made some good choices and, admittedly, has also made some mistakes.

Currently MSSA only selects a maximum of 10 esports titles a year for the Premier and for School Provincial and National Championships.


It should  be noted that due to the fantastic increase of over 77% in participation in 2017, every single title showed a net increase in the actual number of participants.

What also becomes apparent is that the titles played at IESF's World Championships totally outperform the other titles in terms of participation. There can be no doubt that the lure of being in an official Protea Esports Team is a big draw card. To be able to wear the same Protea Colours as awarded to any other sport is indeed a great incentive.

This means that MSSA must look for other events to which it can send the top teams in the other titles in  order to develop them equally.

However, titles that prove to be unsupported by the gamers themselves, or which prove to be unsuitable, run the risk of being cut from the official schedule.

The 'championship share' of the various esports titles for the past 5 years is as follows:

Year Game titles
CounterStrike: GO DotA 2 FIFA HearthStone League of Legends MortalKombat PES StarCraft II StreetFighter Tekken
% share % share % share % share % share % share % share % share % share % share
2017 21 7 7 2 16 9 4 4 7 14
2016 13 9 7 2 15 13 5 3 9 11
2015 20 23 8 3 9 not played not played 4 3 8
2014 4 22 8 not played 14 not played not played 3 not played 11
2013 3 28 8 not played 6 not played not played 4 not played 3
(Please note that the 'championship share' of the various board games and for wargames has not been included in the above table).

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