This chapter examines the multifaceted realm of esports marketing and branding, analyzing the dynamic landscape, innovative strategies, and evolving consumer behaviors that influence the industry. The esports audience, branding within esports, team and player branding, publisher and game branding, tournament and event branding, destination branding, and the future of esports marketing and branding are all explored. Concepts are illustrated through industry examples. This chapter serves as a comprehensive resource for academics, practitioners, and enthusiasts seeking a deeper understanding of the complexities, intricacies, opportunities, and challenges of esports marketing and branding. Key highlights include: (1) esports represents a unique mix of sports, culture, and media that provides both opportunities and challenges for marketers within online platforms and offline spaces; (2) esports is digital, innovative, and drives change within the modern digital society as emerging phenomena such as the metaverse and artificial intelligence (AI) are intertwined within the growth of the context; (3) successful brands fully understand and engage with a marketer's central stakeholder, the audience (i.e., consumer), as they co-create value with brands through the consumption and creation of media; and (4) brands within esports are increasingly mainstream with moves into other areas of consumer culture.

Esports represent an increasingly influential and innovative component of the global media business landscape. The ever-evolving ecosystem of dynamic new media is driven by a heterogeneous array of stakeholders that co-create value in online and offline spaces, often described as servicescapes, where innovations are increasingly influential in diverse areas including entrepreneurial business models, media, sports, entertainment, culture, and consumer engagement. In this research, a semi-systematic literature review was undertaken focused on the intersection of the esports ecosystem, servicescapes and innovations. Four clear directions for future research, with questions specific to esports, servicescapes and media were identified. Scholars can utilise these findings to enhance understanding of innovation from the servicescape perspective, with relevance for scholars engaged in business, marketing, and media.

The aim of this chapter is to provide a broad overview of the processes and stakeholders involved when organizing and managing a stand-alone (offline) esports event, tournament, or LAN. Through analyzing existing documents and having discussions with industry practitioners, this chapter presents a practical guide where the requirements and expectations of key stakeholders and the necessary considerations involved are discussed. The chapter covers a diverse range of factors when organizing esports tournaments and offers practical recommendations for those involved in planning and executing esports events. Key highlights include: (1) a practical how-to guide is presented, identifying the various aspects of organizing an esports event along with relevant stakeholder considerations; (2) a summary table is included that identifies opportunities and challenges when organizing esports events along with related stakeholders to engage; and (3) practical aspects of managing in-person esports events are presented. 

Esport-based game titles, such as Counter-Strike:Global Offensive, represent platforms where players simultaneously consume and produce content as prosumers. Through peer-to-peer presumption, these players co-create value between themselves to drive a range of emotional and social outcomes. Smurfing is the act of higher skilled players utilizing alternate game accounts to play with lower skilled players resulting in unbalanced competitive experiences. This study combines an auto-netnographic approach with interviews to provide novel insights on this pervasive phenomenon. Through combining perspectives of regular players and those who engage in smurfing, three key themes are identified. Smurfing is embedded within gaming platforms, driven by complex motivations, and framed as cheating according to perspective.

The rise and connectivity of digital subcultures are increasingly influencing destination tourism. This study provides an understanding of a multi genre festival within the wider context of popular ‘geek’ culture and its increasing role in events and destination tourism. Through profiling the characteristics and experiences of visitors attending Nordsken, an annual festival in Northern Sweden, we profile segments and provide insights on attendees. Based on a survey of festival visitors, this study revealed five distinct clusters (Digital Gamer, Enthusiastic Nerd, Analogue Fan, Spectator & Follower and Creative Player) based on interests and activities. Experiences of the event were relatively similar for all clusters indicating that multi genre festivals can create memorable experiences for a broad audience with a variety of interests rooted in digital cultures. Through understanding and developing target audiences, regions can leverage multi genre festivals as platforms to enhance regional digitalization.  

Purpose: This paper studies early stages of actor mobilization for institutional change within Swedish esports. Design/methodology/approach: The authors employ interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings: The authors’ findings explain how actors become motivated to act in critical reflections linked to conflicting legitimacy judgments and emotionally charged personal struggles. Moreover, the findings show how, as actors get activated in collective action, they identify efficacy lines around valid domains and experience emotionally charged collective endeavors. Furthermore, the findings explain how particularities in early experiences project legitimacy aspirations that orient collective action toward validity ends and particular values and ideals shaping actors' grassroots movements. Originality/value: This study adds to legitimacy and institutional change theory through individual actors' perspectives, providing key insights into how they are motivated, activated, and oriented. This study is the first to investigate grassroots activists' personal stories in esports.

Esports games can be seen as platform based prosumption experiences as players co-produce their media experiences through play. This can be viewed as peer-to-peer prosumption where users create value between themselves for emotional and social outcomes. Smurfing represents a form of play where higher skilled users compete with lower skilled players through an alternative account that ensures a mismatch in skill abilities. Through an auto-netnographic approach augmented with interviews on the CS:GO matchmaking platform, this paper provides new insights on a common practice that has received little attention to date. Three key themes were identified that illustrate that this complex phenomenon should not always be framed in a negative fashion. Smurfing should be understood as embedded within peer-to-peer prosumer platforms, driven by complex motivations and framed as cheating according to perspective. The concept has value for further study in gaming and esports with wider implications for the digital society. 

This paper presents the initial findings of a longitudinal study examining the role and experiences of LAN organizers in managing player communities pre, during and post the Covid 19 pandemic. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyze interviews with organizers of the Birdie LAN, Sweden’s longest running LAN event. Five key themes were identified reflecting the roles of organizers and their experiences pre pandemic. (1) building and maintaining the culture, (2) encouraging inclusivity and community building, (3) negotiating professionalism, (4) learning, adapting and evolving,(5) creating sustainability through a future orientation. This paper presents the results of the first data collection to examine the impacts of the pandemic on grassroots gaming communities. The findings here represent a foundation in understanding the role of community leaders in maintaining a culture around gaming. These initial findings add value to our understanding of grassroots esports and player communities and the social practices of gaming in the modern era.