E-sports tournament operator ESL and eight prominent teams have formed the World Esports Association, a membership alliance that will strive to bring more structure to pro video gaming -- and extend ESL’s control of the hotly competitive, rapidly growing industry. The group will include an elected players’ council to help set policy, and bring teams to the table with ESL to set standardized regulations, schedules and to sanction tournaments. In a major development, member teams will share revenue generated by WESA-sanctioned events. The founding teams are: Fnatic, Natus Vincere, EnVyUs, Virtus, Pro, Gamers2, Faze, mousesports and Ninjas in Pyjamas. The ESL Pro League for Counter-strike: Global Offensive will be the first competition to be played under WESA regulations. Teams are not exclusively bound to WESA tournaments, but the association’s revenue sharing model will incentivize them to participate in its own sanctioned events. It is a “joint decision” where the teams will play, said ESL Founder & Managing Dir Ralf Reichert. “Teams and players share a direct financial benefit out of the league, so obviously there is some prioritization around that,” he said. The body will solicit additional members, with the ideal size somewhere between 10-20 teams, he said. Reichert said the WESA was born out of discussions that started about a year ago, as insiders grew to see a need for more formalized governing structures in e-sports. Sponsors, broadcasters and fans would all benefit from a more predictable schedule, organizers believe. “From our point of view, it was inevitable that these groups get a more formal, let’s say, business relationship,” Reichert said. Pietro Fringuelli, a partner at German law firm CMS Hasche Sigle, is serving as the startup interim Commissioner.
