Greater Orlando is earning its share of Esports’ legendary loot one white-knuckle tournament at a time.

The 2017 Call of Duty World League Championship at Orlando’s Amway Center

With a cool $1.5 million on the line, and countless observers glued to their seats both here and globally, the Amway Center hosted a highly competitive, championship sports tournament in August, and it didn’t have anything to do with basketball, soccer, football or hockey. What’s more, unlike most sports, participants’ physical condition didn’t necessarily matter—assuming they could work a video-game controller as masterfully as a concert pianist tickles the ivories, that is.

The reason being, this was an “esports” event; i.e., video games played by professionals. Specifically, it was the Call of Duty (CoD) World League Championship, pitting the best players in the world against each other in round after round of the top-selling franchise. For Greater Orlando’s professional gamers, it marked the highest point yet for their community, and as it turns out, watching people play video games can be every bit as exciting as watching them play ball.

“I’ve always been into sports—football, basketball—and I didn’t realize that professional gaming can bring people together just like football can,” says Alejandro Morales, a local indie-game developer who’s been competing at a professional level for years. “The energy in a ballroom or a showroom, or wherever people are competing, matches the same energy at a football game.”

Providing fans with bonding opportunities is nice, but does Greater Orlando see any real benefit by hosting such events? You better believe it—not just in terms of immediate economic impact, but by positioning the City Beautiful as a leader in an expanding industry that’s not done growing yet.

Play For Pay

According to the 2017 Global Esports Market Report released by gaming-news outlet NewZoo, the esports industry is expected to grow to $696 million by the end of this year, marking growth of 41.3 percent compared to 2016. What’s more, NewZoo sees it becoming a $1.5-billion industry by 2020, including advertising, sponsorships, media rights, brand investment and consumer spending. Much of that money trickles down to hosting communities. “A lot of local businesses are starting to see the impact,” says Alex Jebailey, the head of the annual Community Effort Orlando (CEO) progaming tournament, which takes place in June and launched in 2010. “CEO itself has had about a $2 to 3-million impact in the last three years … alone.” Jebailey certainly knows what he’s talking about when it comes to professional gaming, having won his first tournament back in 1993. “I was always gaming, and I grew a love for fighting games, especially Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat,” he says. “Then in college, I started to get more involved in hosting the events.”

For his part, Morales credits Jebailey with growing Orlando’s scene. “He started throwing little Street Fighter tournaments in a local Hooters with an Xbox and a TV, and it eventually grew into being on ESPN in the [ballroom at the Wyndham Orlando Resort] on I-Drive,” he says, adding that he sees the local pro-gaming community as being tight-knit, particularly for those who focus on fighting games.

Although Jebailey recently made the heartwrenching decision to move CEO to Daytona Beach starting next year, he does see great things on the horizon for Orlando’s esports industry. “I think it’s one of the best cities in the world for this sort of thing,” he says. “They just have to be welcoming financially for events to succeed and use the massive amount of venue space that we have everywhere.”

In addition to CEO and the recent CoDevent, Jebailey also notes that Walt Disney World Resort has announced plans for an esports stadium, further cementing Orlando’s growing reputation as a go-to host for video-game competitions.

“The growth is there, everyone is kind of throwing money at it to see how it works, and the people that have been doing it out of passion are the ones I think are going to survive until it gets to the next level,” says Jebailey, who also has some advice for businesses that are looking to make a quick buck off the phenomenon.

“The companies that are in it thinking it’s just going to drive numbers and business—if they don’t do it [organically], it’ll still succeed financially for the most part,” he says. “But it’s not a really good longterm goal.”

Going Pro

Jebailey estimates that top-level pro gamers currently can make between $50,000 and $70,000 annually, with money coming not just from entry fees and spectator tickets, but through sponsorships and merchandise sales. “Just like a real sports team for the most part,” he says.

In other words, there’s gold in them-there hills. “I don’t think that most people realize that playing video games is a legit career choice right now,” says Morales.

For those interested in becoming a pro gamer, Jebailey recommends watching videogame feeds on the Twitch streaming service, as well as using social media to connect with other competitive players. But even for what is largely a virtual career, he says pressing the flesh in real life is key, too; video-game stores can be instrumental in sponsoring and promoting tournaments or just connecting with other players.

Furthermore, Jebailey advocates patience. “This is becoming more of a spectator sport, because some people enjoy watching the game and playing it on a casual level, but [they shouldn’t] quit their day jobs to go pro overnight,” he says.

Although it might seem counterintuitive, getting into shape can also help. “It can be a challenge physically to be a gamer,” says Jebailey. “But if you can set aside time for your health, which is the most important thing, that helps a lot of these pro gamers succeed.”

Some gamers have found that various supplements can improve their skills, too. “Personally, I’ve done research on nootropics, which are meant to activate certain parts of your brain that are a little more dormant than normal,” says Morales. “I consider it more of a multivitamin-type thing.”

Jebailey, who’s sponsored by energy-drink brand Red Bull, acknowledges that supplements work for some, but he prefers a simpler approach. “I would just stick to the basic stuff,” he says. “Protein, creatine, staying healthy, not eating late—stuff like that.”

As with any rarified field, becoming a successful pro gamer can be difficult and time consuming, and it requires serious skill—but for those who make it, it’s decidedly a dream come true.

“It’s created opportunities in my life that I never would have done otherwise—not just a career, but something I love to do,” says Jebailey. “I don’t even consider it a job.

This article originally appeared in Orlando Family Magazine’s September 2017 issue.