Interview with EVOS Esports CEO Ivan Yeo

In recent years, Indonesia has begun to arrive for teams esports which over time looks more professional and polished. Teams esports Growing up in Indonesia is no longer just “five internet cafe kids who are good at playing” games” Many come and compete using jersey teams, get sponsors, and get involved in various non-tournament things such as live streaming or meet and greet.

But even though it looks cool and profitable, establishing a team esports solid is not easy. You don’t just become popular once you have five players for one tournament Dota 2. Winning a tournament doesn’t always guarantee you will get big sponsors. Even though at the same time, you have to pay for team operational costs and other costs. So, don’t be surprised if we often see teams that initially looked promising, but disappeared less than a year later.

The big question is, how difficult is it to set up and develop an organization and team? esports? So what is the real success factor for an organization? esports in the long run?

To answer that question, we interviewed Ivan Yeo, CEO of EVOS Esports. If you follow esports scene Indonesia, you should know that EVOS Esports is an organization esports which is quite famous in Indonesia. Not only that, besides Dota 2 in Indonesia, they have also expanded to games and other countries in Southeast Asia.

In this interview, Ivan explains what must be considered for an organization esports can be a successful business in the long run, and how EVOS Esports has implemented it so far. Not only that, he also briefly told how EVOS was first established and the reasons behind the expansion he did.

Starting from EO Tournament to Zero Latitude

Ivan himself wasn’t actually someone from the realm esports. He is originally from Singapore, and works at YSS Capital, a VC or venture capital aka business capital providers for other companies, in particular startup.

But he himself really likes it esports. “Since about 10 years ago, I have always been observing the industry esports and watch the progress. It was only about three years ago that I decided that it was time to get into this industry,” he explains.

As his first target, he immediately glanced at Indonesia. “Indonesia has a large player base, but the esports this country is still unprofessional. Therefore, we feel this is where we can make the most impact,” he said. In addition, he also feels that competition in Indonesia is minimal, while if he goes to another country such as the Philippines, he has to directly compete with big names like Mineski or TNC.

Games selected as the main focus? Dota 2 Of course, those who do have a very large number of players in Indonesia, and have esports scene which is huge globally.

His first attempt at the industry was with AES Games, an organization whose focus is on hosting tournaments esports at the level of Southeast Asia, including Indonesia. This idea departs from Ivan’s assumption that being an EO is the best way to develop the realm esports locally while still making a profit. But over time, the results were not what he wanted.

“Problem in the industry esports In Indonesia, it’s actually more of an egg and chicken problem. Which is true, will a good/professional EO/tournament form a professional team, or vice versa, a professional team will force the EO to create eventsa professional team too,” he explained. Feeling that AES Games will not produce significant results and impact, he finally decided to establish a professional team.

To find his first team, he gave an additional prize in the AES Summer S1 tournament. In addition to getting prize money as usual, the team that comes out as the champion is also entitled to get sponsorship. The tournament was finally won by Rex Regum Qeon (RRQ), while Kanaya Gaming won the second place and Majapahit the third place.

Unfortunately, both RRQ and Kanaya Gaming already have sponsors, so they rejected Ivan’s offer of sponsorship. Fortunately, Tribekti, who was managing Majapahit (formerly Zero Latitude) was interested in the offer and contacted Ivan. From there he later acquired Majapahit to become EVOS Esports.

Bootstrapping and Aiming for Sustainability

Ivan said that Indonesia actually has many teams esports good and promising. But not many are truly professional and can last long. “Many teams in Indonesia can’t last more than a year. So if your team can last more than a year, things will get easier.”

However, this trend is also not without reason. Ivan admits that developing an organization eports is hard work and business. You must be able to show that your organization or team has the skills or even the best in one area/games. If not, then no one would want to take a glance.

Since it was first established, EVOS Esports itself has also had to work hard to get to where it is today. EVOS does not have a large start-up capital, so they still have to bootstrapping, aka operate with what they have. This means that to reduce costs, some work, such as managing social media and content, is still done alone.

Ivan was also aware that developing an organization and esports brands takes quite a bit of time. He also did not want to reap the success for a moment but did not maintain it. “From the start we knew that the key to our success was sustainability. That’s why since first acquiring Dota 2 roster, we are not aiming to advance to TI7, but TI8, 9, and 10,” said Ivan.

Until now, the EVOS Esports organization has grown not only in terms of roster competitive, but also the team behind the scenes. Ivan said that currently EVOS has six staff full time as well as some staff part time who do various things such as team management, marketing, social media and content.

Don’t Forget Viewership and Exposure

Yup, apart from team management, one of the EVOS Esports staff’s behind-the-scenes duties is to handle business marketing, social media and content. Indeed, one of the main jobs of an organization or team esports is to enter the tournament and try to win it. From there they will get prize money that will help them survive.

But the prize money from the tournament won’t be enough to create an organization esports survive in the long term. Achievement is a good thing, but it is not the only path to and ultimate goal of an organization esports.

Ivan said that the profit of an organization esports determined by viewership and exposure. That means how often the name of the organization appears and is seen in public spaces such as the internet, social media, and so on events, as well as how large the number and activity fans to be involved or pay attention to the activities planned by the organization.

Amount fans, viewership, and exposure it is this organization that attracts sponsors who want to fund them. The bigger the number fans, the more people will see everything displayed by the organization, be it content from the organization itself or content from sponsors.

That’s why Ivan doesn’t just focus on tournaments to develop fanbase EVOS. “We can’t be champions all the time. That’s why we see achievements in tournaments as a bonus and not the main factor in measuring success,” he said.

Apart from tournaments, Ivan considers that content creation and proper content distribution are important factors to improve fanbase. But he also added that apart from creating content, an organization esports should also pay attention to the distribution of the content.

“If you want to create quality content, you have to make sure that the content is well distributed so that people can and have the opportunity to enjoy the content you create. Because that’s the amount fans in fan page, engagement, and followers Instagram is an important number,” Ivan explains.

However, EVOS doesn’t just stop at creating and distributing content on Facebook, Instagram, videos, and live streaming. He also ensures that EVOS always tries to engage with fans directly, for example by replying to messages and comments on Facebook and Instagram.

They also tried to involve fans they are more than that. He shared that the new EVOS logo is currently the work of fans they. “We decided to use the logo because fans we like, and the logo itself is made by fans,” he explained.

He also added, “In business, it is things that cannot be developed such as engagement This will help generate profits. […] Not only that, we are also aware that EVOS is nothing without fans.”

Expansion to Games and Other Countries

As of today, EVOS already has three teams in three separate countries, namely Dota 2 and Arena of Valor in Indonesia, Hearthstone in Singapore, and League of Legends in Vietnam. This expansion, though occurring very rapidly, was not without consideration.

“When deciding to expand, the player base as well as viewership esports in the country must be big and strong. Otherwise, sponsors and advertisers will not be interested in working with us,” he said. That was one of the reasons why Ivan decided to form League of Legends roster in Vietnam, a country that can be said to have League of Legends scenes most powerful in Southeast Asia today.

In addition, Ivan also wanted to make sure that games it is indeed supported by publisher or developer itself. “If publisher don’t want to invest in esports game scene his own, we have no reason to enter games it,” he added.

Love The Game

As he mentioned earlier, setting up a brand and organization esports is not an easy matter. Ivan himself explained that in order to be successful, a team esports must have strong leadership inside and outside games, good management infrastructure, and humble and love the fans, players and partners.

“The reason I founded EVOS is not just to fill my time or to earn money. EVOS was formed because we wanted to build a difficult dream and inspire many people to build their dreams with us. Because of that, not a day goes by without thinking about how we can help the fans, players and our partners.

Lastly, Ivan added “love the game, the players and the people. Then figure out how to make them love you back. That’s the secret to building EVOS.”

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