As the interest in esports grows, companies are looking for new ways to engage and cater to the audience. Whether it be a news site, team platform or software helping players get better at the game, it’s important to create esports products that speak to and engage with esports fans.
Use endemic UX and UI
Video games and esports tend to follow a certain aesthetic. There’s usually a dark colour palette with splashes of strong colours, combined with a modern, almost cyberpunk-feeling user interface.
Even though esports products don’t necessarily have to follow the same type of visual language to be successful, it helps in creating a sense of familiarity and an endemic feel.
The esports audience is generally tech-savvy, young and digitally native. Therefore, it’s increasingly important to create products that adhere and speak to this demographic and hold features they appreciate.
Showcase engaging statistics
While esports might be an umbrella term for different games and tournaments, the fundamental aspects a fan wants to know about their esports games are when their favourite teams play, who the players are and the match results.
To showcase these sorts of statistics, one can use data APIs to collect the information needed. Then, the data can be aggregated into a calendar to create a compelling user experience. Widgets that may look like a part of your site, but are actually hosted elsewhere, can be used for the same purpose.
Although the APIs provide a great way to showcase any and all esports data you may want, they require some development time to set up. Therefore, an easy way of showcasing esports statistics is to use ready-made iframe widgets. They can be customised to fit your every need and can feature a myriad of statistics.
Collaborate with streamers that fans care about
To create initial traction for your product or to engage new customer groups, it’s beneficial to make use of the role models that esports fans care about. For the esports demographic, generations X, Y and Z, the influencers that have gained notable traction have been streamers.
They stream the different games they’re playing on platforms such as Twitch or Youtube and talk to engage with their audiences in real-time. As the fans can engage with their role models live, the level of trust and loyalty increases, enabling a strong brand building opportunity.
Communicate through relevant channels
In the early days of online video gaming, the player base was sparse. To make sure all players found a group to play with, the game developers included several countries and regions into the same servers. This led to a geographically diverse gaming community. Most conversations were held digitally through platforms such as the in-game chatting features, Skype and Teamspeak.
Today, the video game audience is still using digital means of communication with their real-life and in-game friends. However, they’ve moved on to platforms such as Twitch and Discord. The latter doesn’t only provide functionality for fans to speak to each other while playing, but also provides a way for companies, esports teams and streamers to directly interact with their audience.
When creating an esports product, it’s important to understand and adhere to these ways of communication. Whether you’re creating a Discord server for educating esports fans about your product, or posting updates on Reddit, it’s important to be available and communicate with the audience on their terms.
At Abios, we are video game enthusiasts ourselves and have worked within the esports industry for over eight years. If you want to create an esports platform or make a new product for the esports audience, we’re more than happy to help.
