Esports is a rapidly growing sports industry boasting 500 million dedicated fans and even more active players worldwide.
With over 3 billion gamers worldwide, eSports is expected to see tremendous growth in the coming years. As a result, companies are increasingly leveraging sponsorships in eSports to strengthen their brand and reputation with the next generation.
Esports fans are overwhelmingly young, making them particularly vulnerable to misleading information and greenwashing from polluting companies.
Shell’s Shame
Concerns about esports washing first arose in 2023, when fossil fuel giant Shell partnered with Fortnite, one of the world’s most popular online games with a very young player base, to promote its new V-Power® NiTRO+ premium gasoline.
Players were invited to explore a Shell-branded island, where they could refuel their virtual vehicles at interactive Shell gas stations and were encouraged to post screenshots online with the hashtag #Shellroadtrips.
Fortnite’s audience is noticeably younger than other popular esports games, with about 53% of players aged between 10 and 25. This is the same climate in which children were exploited and exposed to tobacco advertising and sponsorship.
eSports washing
Now, high-carbon corporations such as fossil fuel companies and oil states like Qatar and Saudi Arabia are increasingly turning to sports as a means of distracting attention from their environmentally and socially damaging practices.
As the public demands greater ambition on climate change, sport has proven to be an effective way to improve reputations, build influence and promote misleading environmental claims.
Ending this practice requires controlling cigarette styles that promote high-carbon products and lifestyles.
From Shell to BP, big oil companies have doubled down in recent months, signaling to investors that they will backslide on climate change pledges and prioritize their core businesses of mining and selling fossil fuels.
Cheese and gripping
Oil states are also showing no signs of meeting climate goals, and some are using their status as climate conference hosts to rush in for more business. In gaming terms, this could be ‘camping’ – maintaining a static position for the sake of advantage.
Applying old techniques like sponsorship to new markets like eSports can also be an example of ‘production’.
The act of sponsorship itself is about attaching your name and brand to a popular activity loved by millions and profiting from the association as a sponsor, even when your product is a threat to the fans and players you are targeting. This is classic ‘cheesing’.
Finally, the sponsorship of eSports by polluters is the most serious case of ‘griefing’ imaginable, because sponsors are not just ruining the game for everyone now, they are ruining it forever. That’s why all sports, including eSports, need to get rid of dirty sponsors and stop promoting pollution.
This author
Andrew Simms is Co-Director. New Meteorological Research InstituteAssistant Director Scientists for Global ResponsibilityCo-founder Badvertising campaignCoordinator Rapid Transition CoalitionAuthor of The New Green Economy and co-author of the original Green New Deal. Follow X: @andrewsims_uk Or Mastodon: @andrewsimms@indieweb.social.
