5G Connectivity and Performance Will Fuel the Growing Esports Industry - Samsung
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
5G Connectivity and
Performance Will Fuel the
Growing Esports Industry
1
Background:
Esports had long been considered an afterthought
within the athletic community as they struggled to find
a mainstream audience through the 1990’s and 2000’s.
In terms of online viewership,
Recently, they have been at the forefront of growth among during January 2018, Twitch
all sports. Games like League of Legends, Overwatch and attracted 962,000 concurrent
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive draw massive audiences viewers, which is almost
to view tournaments in person and on Twitch, the primary 200,000 more viewers than
streaming platform used by esports leagues and gamers. CNN attracted during its peak
Tournaments have sold out some of the biggest arenas day during the same month.1
in America including the Staples Center and Madison
Square Garden.
According to Esports Charts, one match of the 2017 World Championship of League of Legends peaked
at a total of 2.02 million viewers from North America alone. Altogether there were 15.6 billion hours
of esports consumed online worldwide. The money is also pouring in to esports. Revenues almost
tripled what was initially expected for 2017. Estimates were placed around $655 million for 2017 at the
beginning of the year. By the end of the year, esports had generated $1.5 billion in revenue, including
$750 million in investments. The market is now expected to exceed $2 billion by 2021.2
15.6 billion hours $750 million $2 billion
consumed online worldwide in investments in 2017 worldwide esports revenue
expected by 2021
1
https://www.investors.com/news/technology/click/esports-channel-twitch-draws-more-viewers-than-cnn/
2
https://www.pcgamer.com/esports-was-worth-15-billion-in-2017/
2
The Technology Challenge
For esports leagues to support tournament play, they have some fairly specific technological needs
that many arenas, convention centers, and other facilities looking to host these growing events may
not have the expertise or infrastructure to handle. Currently, tournaments are relying on expensive,
wired, fiber Internet connections which require a team of IT specialists to set up. This not only takes
time to arrange and plan, but the costs add up quickly. Additionally, this limits tournaments to venues
that have been previously wired and designed to support a fiber optic network.
Not only are tournaments relying on very specific infrastructure, but gamers at home need to rely on
a similar type of network. While not all gamers have access to fiber-optic networks, most gamers are
required to sign-up for an Internet service that offers them no more than 10 mbps and requires an
Ethernet connection to attain top quality speeds and latency. Gamers are limited in their options and
rarely have access to the best possible Internet available. Much of the time, their house or apartment
building is not wired for the best possible service.
Why 5G?
Latency is extremely important to a gaming experience. Latency, otherwise known as ping, determines
how quickly your input on a controller or mouse is registered through the Internet and actually
executed on screen. Low latency can cause severe lag and seriously delay your gameplay. A single
millisecond of latency can be the determining factor between victory and defeat for even the best
gamers. 5G is able to provide latency of close to 0 milliseconds, the fastest that has ever been
commercially available. Current 4G or Wi-Fi networks provide latency in the tens of milliseconds.
In addition to latency, the number of connected devices determines the quality of your online
experience. Users nowadays have multiple connected devices that require access to Internet at
all times. Many of these devices are being used at the same time, whether browsing the Internet,
watching Netflix, or playing games. Just one connected device on top of playing a game online on
one router can severely impact the performance of the game. With 5G, high-bandwidth multi-device
support can be addressed without performance impacts due to technology’s ability to deliver high-
capacity at low latency.
3
Opportunities
For the gamers around the world 5G provides
a unique opportunity, whether it’s the casual
gamers playing on their couch or professional
gamers playing in front of millions of fans with
millions of dollars on the line. One of the first use
cases is leveraging 5G technology to deliver fixed
wireless access to under served residents who
have limited or no broadband service providers.
For gamers in these areas, 5G could be the With over 35 tournaments held worldwide,
service that unlocks the next esports professional including over 20 in the United States
by providing gigabit level wireless service to alone, that play multiple times a year,
their home. there is ample opportunity for arenas and
convention centers to host an event that
In order to target those casual gamers who play draws tens of thousands of attendees and
from home, service providers can deliver fixed millions of viewers online.
wireless service via 5G. Given 5G’s capabilities,
service providers could offer a gaming package
that will equip gaming households with the 5G would ensure continuous connectivity and top
performance to support the more rigorous online of the line performance.
games. Furthermore, this service will allow users
to connect as many devices as needed at once In addition to providing top quality services,
without causing lag. the esports landscape is ripe with sponsorship
opportunities. Teams, tournament hosts, and
For leagues and traveling tournaments, service leagues are always looking for the best companies
providers can provide easily deployed 5G access to represent their brands and help esports
points that deliver the venue enough low-latency continue to grow. By providing the network to
bandwidth to fuel the tournament. With 5G, give esports leagues and tournaments the speeds
density would not be an issue as the service can they need, service providers would be putting
support up to 10x more devices than previously themselves in a great position to represent
possible with 4G. esports far into its bright future.
4Solutions
Samsung offers an end-to-end 5G solution that enables network service providers the ability to
deliver various service levels to certain segments like esports.
For service providers, a new segment with gamers and new opportunities exist in
terms of enabling 5G fixed wireless access or wireless broadband for gamers with
limited broadband at home or by partnering with tournament hosts to provide high
quality Internet to the arena.
For gamers at home, Samsung offers a 5G home router that is easily and quickly
installed and provides up to 1Gbps of service capability. For tournaments, Samsung
offers an end-to-end 5G solution with compact radio access units that could be easily
deployed inside the large arenas for optimal design to ensure ultra high-performance
levels needed to execute tournaments.
Samsung produces the necessary network elements to enable 5G service with wireless providers.
51301 E Lookout Dr. Sales: 1.877.556.9469
samsung-networks.com
Richardson, TX 75082 Service & Support: 1.800.737.7008
6You can also read
