Players and analysts say Australian professional esports is 'dying' as investment dwindles

Australian esports analysts, players, and former players say that despite Australia's strong grassroots foundation, opportunities to compete professionally in the country are dwindling due to the cancellation of local events and leagues. This has raised concerns about the future development of the esports industry in Australia, requiring strategic solutions to ensure its sustainability.

While some major events are still taking place, such as the IEM Melbourne Counter-Strike tournament scheduled for April, popular series like Call of Duty and League of Legends will not have top-tier local competitions in Australia in 2025. This undoubtedly has a negative impact on local esports enthusiasts and professional players, potentially hindering their career progression.

Lincoln "Fighta" Ferguson, a semi-professional Call of Duty player, said that it was easier to support himself when he competed about seven years ago, but that is not the case for new players now. He believes that the Australian esports industry needs more support from developers, the government, or universities, suggesting a collaborative approach to foster growth.

"Unfortunately, I think 'dying' is the best word to describe Australian esports," he told triple j hack. "I think five to ten years ago, it was fresh, everyone wanted to get involved. The biggest problem with Australian esports is that they rely too heavily on publishers, and if the publisher isn't providing what the community or the scene needs, then it struggles."

Ferguson also stated that while there was a lot of investment in Australian and international esports during the COVID-19 pandemic, the growth has not kept pace, indicating that local events are no longer taking place. Alex Blaikie, of ESL, a company that organizes matches for some of the country's biggest events, said that the state of Australian esports is relatively "stable."

"I think the biggest thing for me is that Australian esports feels very stable right now, we had a bit of a surge during COVID, obviously, everyone was watching esports, everyone was at home on their computers, it was the perfect time for esports to absolutely have that massive boom," he told hack. "There's still not a huge amount of full-time, getting-paid-a-full-time-wage esports pros in Australia. It's not Europe or America, but we do have some, and we definitely have a lot of players competing at the highest international level."

Blaikie also added that it still makes sense for players who want to pursue an esports career to leave the country and compete in overseas leagues. "If you want to be the best in the world, then it makes sense to go overseas and compete with the best. The majority of the talent is in Europe and North America, or, you know, depending on the specific esport, in Southeast Asia."

Jessica "ARTeMis" Majrou, who participates in the tactical shooter game Counter-Strike, called on game developers to invest some of the money they earn from Australian players back into the local professional esports scene. "Game developers should maybe use [in-game purchases] to invest back into the community because Australia as a region, it's connected to the whole of Asia, because we're so small, they don't just invest in Australia," she said.

"Sure, [esports] is dying, but it might need to be in that state to start growing, because I do think the injection of money was too early, but it needs to be more stable." Majrou said she is confident that Australia's skill level and community size mean that, eventually, the local scene will flourish again. "So if we're not doing well now, eventually we will. It's just about making sure we have the infrastructure, we have the good players, we have the good systems."

James "Tally" Schute, a former professional player who now commentates on competitive real-time strategy game League of Legends matches, said that Australia's player base and small population make Australian esports harder to invest in. Even so, he said Australia is producing a disproportionate number of players who are able to compete at the highest level.

"I think, overall, a lot of sponsors and teams have good intentions, it's just, even in the bigger regions of esports, it's hard to know whether it's going to be a successful investment, and it's easy to say, 'Let's pull out before things get worse,'" he told Hack. "When I was also living in North America and competing there, the differences were staggering, so I don't think we've ever been on the same level as what's happening overseas. With the resources we have and the small player base we have, we always over-perform and we always do better than we're expected to."

Alex Blaikie also said that there is high demand from audiences for the upcoming IEM Melbourne event, adding that it may end up being one of the biggest esports events ever held in Australia. He encouraged players and fans to continue participating in the games they love. "I'm very excited about the future of Australian esports, the tickets for IEM Melbourne are already looking like the best sales we've ever had for any ESL-run esports event in Australia, so that means any esports event that's ever happened in Australia, most likely," he said. "That's a good sign. People should keep attending events, keep competing online, and keep participating – it's a good time to be involved in esports."