Older brother. How do eSports team managers work to win millions?

Esports is incredibly fast. 10 years ago, most teams became just players united under one name. Now the top are large organizations with teams in different disciplines, large staff and multi-million dollar turnover.

The lineup is often not limited to five simple guys who are better at pushing buttons than anyone else. In 2023, most rosters will include athletic directors, coaches, analysts and managers. If everything, plus or minus, is clear regarding the role of an analyst and trainer, then the pool of tasks manager may appear blurry.

In this article, we’ll figure out why managers are needed in eSports, what functions they perform in teams, and why not a single top team can do without such a person. I’m familiar with several of them, but I don’t know the topic itself, so what’s written below is not some stuffy rewrite, it’s quite an insider’s piece.

Who it squad manager in eSports

In short, this is a person who does everything to make sure that athletes are taken care of. only about achieving significant results. He keeps them in the loop, not paying attention to external factors and internal contradictions, in order to promote progress and victories in tournaments.

The age of an esports athlete can reach 25, 30, and even exceed 35 years. The position that this is only a sport for young, excuse me, “nerds” is a delusion. It’s just that most esports players are asocial guys. They spent most of their lives almost entirely on the computer, playing 10 hours a day, and sometimes instead of school, university or work.

They are not very sociable and move with friends less often than others. At the same time, conflicts with loved ones often arise, who do not always share the stigmatized hobby. It takes a lot of time and effort for esports players to prove to their families that playing computer games is a job that can earn a good, stable income.

Most had to seek parental support in their life journey, and not everyone succeeded in this. In any case, the first serious money tournaments will appear. Then for some reason the attitude changes. Who would have thought…

In addition, esports players receive their first earnings at the age of 16-18, when they are called the first professional team. People in esports organizations are unprepared socially, legally, financially (and even in everyday life!) for adult life. They remain noobs even after 10 years. Some performances at a professional level.

That is why it is very important to have a person nearby who is skilled in cybersports in resolving absolutely any situation, from serious to comic visitors. The manager is a savior for “doters”, “lolers”, “kaesers” and other supergamers. He replaces the players of an older brother, a parent, and even a nanny. He knows everything, can do everything, and if he doesn’t know how, he will tell you where to find out or who to call so that the issue can be promptly resolved.

What does an eSports team manager do?

This is my role in the Luka team Lukava Nasuashvili, squad manager BB Team for DOTA 2:

You don’t have a model that is acceptable for a lawyer when you need to come to an office somewhere. You constantly live with the couple, constantly answering their questions – from visa and legal issues, to just everyday ones like “you need to buy something in the store” and so on. The kind of handyman who simply has to be constantly on guard and interrupt the players’ lives, doing everything for their comfort – so that they can devote maximum time and energy to the game.

The manager helps players resolve issues without directly affecting the game. When registering, namely in the country where the next tournament will be held, it is necessary to provide meals at the “bootcamp” – the house or apartment where the team lives, and soon for the tournaments.

The manager is always in touch with the club’s coronavirus employees and SMM team; people who help the bootcamp function properly: for example, cooks or cleaning staff; legal and marketing departments, if any.

In some teams, the manager is also responsible for finding and organizing “clan wars”. These are organizational matches with other teams. But more often the search and organization of training rests with the coach.

The specifics of the job vary depending on the command. For example, in BetBoom Team the manager leads a squad filled with ready-made players and superstars. And, for example, two-time champions of The International, Team spiriton the contrary, they work according to the concept of growing stars, and two managers work with the rosters that are part of the team with no names.

What a typical manager’s day looks like

The manager starts work before the players.

During a bootcamp, a day looks something like this. He wakes up before the players, has breakfast, then a letter and answers requests that are submitted to the roster or a player – for example, if some media wanted to interview a player, or if one of the sponsors needs the player’s participation in their advertising activation. And then he woke up whether the players woke up on time, and there will be those who didn’t wake up.

After the players have woken up and started skating in practice matches, the manager continues to submit requests, resolve food issues and communicate with other departments of the club. If any media activities were planned for the day (interviews, streams, photo sessions), then he subsequently attended the players’ visits and was not late.

It is assumed that you want to become a manager. What is needed

Punctuality, management and managerial decisions, prompt interaction and feedback from players working or working with managers are highly valued in the work.

– manager Luka Lukava Nasuashvili from BB Team.

This is a delicate job: to be a psychologist, mentor, and manager at the same time. The closest thing to it are skills in the HR field, but they are not enough without a subtle understanding of the entire “underside” of eSports.

The composition of a manager’s job is definitely not suitable for everyone. Esports may seem like a childhood dream come true, but in fact it is a job without days off. You must be available and accessible at all times to resolve operational issues. any complexity. You live with the team absolutely every day. And, in turn, the team cannot live without you.

And if you are not able to build trusting relationships with often closed and (to put it mildly) unassigned special guys, then it will be impossible to gain a foothold in the role of a manager, regardless of the number of cool diplomas and previous successes in other industries.

Okay, what about the salary?

There is not as much money in esports as it might seem from the thick numbers of prize fund tournaments that are circulated on social networks and the media.

Top athletes in DOTA and CS Maybe receive several thousand dollars a month plus “prize money”, which is usually level of development between players and coach.

In large teams, players receive 16-18% of the prize money, and the rest of the money is paid between the heads of the organization, including managers. In addition, managers often stipulate in contracts that they receive from 1 to 6% of prize players. In other words, in addition to a share of the money, managers also receive a separate “kopeck” from each player on the roster.

Managers still earn less than players. Salaries in Eastern European countries in some organizations are close to 2 thousand dollars per month. This unit only exceeds a couple of thousand. Most often this is much more mundane money around $500.

If a team does not have an organization, that is, there are simply five players who decide to play with each other, then the athletes and the coach, according to the resulting scheme, discount a percentage of the prize money, and the resulting amount is paid to the managers.

There are also situations when managers I don’t get paid at all. For example, if they are also the people who assembled the roster and team, or if they got into the topic of being “friends” with the players. Some people just want to join the party, and at the initial stage they are not so interested in money.

Salaries in the CS2 discipline are on average higher than in DOTA. And, of course, staff in European and American organizations receive more than in Eastern European ones.

How to become a manager of an eSports team?

Dmitry “Korb3n” Belov (right), manager of Team Spirit

It is not so easy. Everyone has a different path to managerial roles. Someone just hung out with the players for a long time, became friends with them, and in the end they allowed him to be their manager, since the players simply feel comfortable with the person. Such people often join the team “for fun” and then work for many years. Or they purposefully hang out with players in the hope that sooner or later they will get a job in eSports.

Another way is for those who receive a narrowly specialized education and get a job in their specialty. People trained in management, and then implemented their pool of skills in cyber.

There is no universal recipe. There are many ways to get into esports, but most often everything is decided by chance. This is not taught in universities and most core teams have people in place who have grown up naturally in the role and continue to operate. Not everyone is given the opportunity to be “father and mother” for fifty special boys in society. But without such a person there simply cannot be a stable and successful team.

PS Is there anything that you personally are interested in learning more about esports? I’d be happy to explore the different aspects of this industry, so leave a comment on where I should go in future posts.