How top esports talents are plucked from obscurity

Ampverse’s team of talent scouts spend a great deal of time scouring professional and amateur esports leagues. The scouts use internal tools to compare performance metrics such as the “kill ratio” (the proportion of casualties on each side in a battle). But beyond gaming ability, Ampverse are interested in the “hyper growth trajectory and an accelerating fanbase” of new recruits. By gleaning data from YouTube, Facebook and TikTok, Ampverse can compare subscriber growth, engagement rates and “dwell time” (which is how long fans spend watching content). It also looks at the number of concurrent views on live streaming platforms like Twitch, where Ampverse’s chief executive Ferdinand Gutierrez previously worked.

Different games require different skill sets, says Baillie, but on a holistic level, it isn’t too dissimilar from finding talent in traditional sports.

“Any successful esports…