Australia is a unique market for professional video gamers, and the latest IEM tournament perfectly and succinctly emphasizes just how much of a market there is for gamers down under who want to experience these high-level tournaments and events up close. Given that the tickets were snapped up within a matter of hours, Australian gamers are as vocal and passionate as any other professional gaming market.
This will be on show again in Sydney this October as IEM follows on from the incredible success of the 2019 Counter-Strike tournament, and it will be one of the first eSports tournaments to feature elements of Counter-Strike 2. But what about Sydney makes it such an attractive location for eSports tournaments?
#1 – Clear Legislation That Helps To Generate Publicity
When professional video gamers jet into Sydney in October this year and battle it out to get their hands on the most significant chunk of the $250,000 prize pool, many gamers will supplement their viewing by placing a wager on their favorite team. Legislation in Australia regarding gambling and cryptocurrency is some of the most lucid in the world, allowing people to place bets on professional video gaming tournaments and use Bitcoin to do so.
As Counter-Strike is such a well-established eSports tournament, it has long had a lot of gambling markets correlating with it and continues cultivating further curiosity. IEM’s decision to host this tournament in Sydney will be music to the ears of thousands of Australian eSports fans who enjoy betting on eSports with Bitcoin. You can bet on CS2 using a variety of payment methods. As Valve gets closer to announcing more in-depth updates about where Counter-Strike is heading, the exciting future will have a brand new chapter for gamers to explore, play, and bet on in the very near future.
#2 – A True World City
You could travel anywhere in the world and ask somebody about Australia. Many will likely have heard of the Sydney Opera House, Harbor Bridge, and other notable components that place Sydney alongside London, Tokyo, and New York as a world city. For the last 20 years, Sydney has rubbed shoulders with some of the world’s most advanced cities as one of the top places to live and recently topped a survey as the best city anywhere in the world for people to reside.
While other eSports tournaments take place in other prominent and advanced cities like Seoul and Tokyo, Sydney is able to bring together gamers from right across Oceania and sells itself as one of the most suitable host cities anywhere in the world – which was exemplified by the immense success of the 2019 IEM tournament, which organizers will be keen to replicate.
#3 – Big Video Gaming Culture
Sydney hosts 25% of Australia’s entire population, and recent studies and estimates have stated that over 80% of Australians enjoy playing video games. Now, while not all of these people will enjoy participating in professional video gaming, the overall culture is more favorable for the biggest tournaments to generate publicity. It is essential that organizers can find host cities in countries that have a significant gaming culture as it makes it a lot easier to advertise when a big tournament is set to come up – such as the IEM in Sydney next month, which has had no issues shifting tickets.
When big eSports tournaments get underway in South Korea or India, many native video gamers will keep an eye on how the tournaments unfold, with many watching online or actively seeking out tickets to watch it live and in person.
#4 – Tried & Tested
Although some tournaments will go ahead in cities or countries that haven’t hosted them, the IEM Sydney hosts will be happy that the tournament is coming back to the land down under. The 2018 and 2019 tournaments were so successful that the leaders behind the tournament made it their goal to bring it back to Australia, and now, after four years, it has returned to Australia’s largest city. Due to the historic success in Sydney, the organizers don’t have to concern themselves about the logistics of moving to a new city or country; they know what they’re going to get by hosting it in Sydney.
#5 – Forward Thinking
Since professional video gaming is a new market, some countries don’t see the appeal of hosting tournaments. Not only that, some countries are actively against innovative ideas like using Bitcoin to wager on the outcome of a game or tournament.
Australia has long had innovative measures to deal with a whole host of societal and technological advances. Over the last few decades, it has continued to adapt and adjust to changing new markets. It is this approach and commitment to looking ahead that attracts groundbreaking eSports tournaments like IEM to come back to Sydney continually, and we imagine this won’t be the last time they choose one of the world’s most liveable cities as the host city for IEM.
Conclusion
One key factor creating such a strong narrative for this year’s IEM tournament is the incredible level of competition that will be participating. It is a three-way heat between ENCE, G2, and Vitality, and gamers in Australia are split about which team will come out on top of these three elite teams.
If all three teams are operating to their highest capacity, it would be simply too close to call, and the fact it’s not a one-horse race and will contain such immense competition is just another fantastic selling point.
Throw in the other ingredients like a sold-out venue and the emergence of CS2, and it could have the hallmarks of one of the great eSports tournaments. Having the foundation in Sydney and excitement reaching an almost palpable level, early suggestions seem that IEM could be onto another winner, and the host city will play an integral role in delivering a world-class venue and elite-level performance to comprise a phenomenal overall eSports entertainment event.