Although online esports can be played anywhere and at any time, physical locations continue to be important in the esports world. In addition to national and international teams, there are also teams that are organised regionally.
For example, student teams such as E.S.E.V. Zephyr in Eindhoven and TSEA Link in Tilburg. “These esports clubs focus on gamers from a specific city or area. This leads to greater local involvement and more social interaction, both online and offline. Furthermore, representing your home city is really cool.”
Working out of his Dutch Game Garden office in Breda, Been has expanded his mCon esports company very successfully in the past few years. He is also the founder of Breda Guardians. This recreational esports club is for gamers from Breda and the surrounding area and is 100% focused on a city.
Fans are the lifeblood of any sport, because if no one is interested in watching the matches, the sport will eventually die out. And the same is true of esports. Looking to the future, Been predicts that every city will have its own top-level esports team, just as every city now has its own football club, which it supports through thick and thin.
He expects significant interaction between these esports clubs, cities and educational institutes, based on the American model where colleges are the main supplier of athletes for sports teams. “We can expect explosive growth in the future.”
