Saving your game

Copywritten for Verimatrix in FEED spring issue p102-103

The eSports industry has yet to experience the cash haemorrhaging cybercrime that is the daily reality for producers of filmed entertainment and conventional sport. Let that be a warning. 

https://online.bright-publishing.com/view/528237499/102/

With the value of its product rising fast it is only a matter of time before competitive video gaming comes under serious and sustained attack.  

It is time for the industry to make a pre-emptive strike. 

The global video gaming industry saw revenue surge 20% to $179.7 billion in 2020 after Covid-19 lockdowns boosted demand, according to IDC data. The inexorable rise of mobile gaming, next-gen consoles from Sony and Microsoft, and the global trend for home entertainment has fuelled this remarkable growth. Yet the greatest contributor is the flourishing eSports sector, which Newzoo analysts expect will have an audience of 646 million by 2023. 

Only a decade ago eSports was largely played by amateurs. While the ecosystem of leagues and tournaments has grown along with a professionalism and popularity that will likely see it badged an official Olympic sport by 2024, one area lags behind. 

Esports’ Achilles heel is its vulnerability to pirates, hackers and cheats. The situation today mirrors that of the early days of digital sports broadcasting with an industry naïve to the points of entry for pirate attacks or how sophisticated those attacks can be. 

Stolen Streams and Advertisement Revenue 

‘Stream ripping’ is one of the largest threats to eSports revenue. Pirates retransmit live broadcasts to steal viewers and steal ad revenue. Since the vast majority of revenue (roughly 70-80%) for eSports organisations comes from sponsorships and advertising, stream ripping can be catastrophic to business.  

DRM is the first line of defence for streaming video piracy prevention. It ensures content is encrypted, whether in storage, transit or delivery, and delivers the right key and content ID to authenticated users for their playback environment. Additional forensic watermarking can identify the source of unauthorised streams or copies by tracing them back to the last authorized recipient. Once illegal sources are identified, they can be shut down to protect key revenue streams for the service provider. 

Piracy is not the only threat. Hackers may attempt to bypass in-app purchases, starving the game studio of revenue e. Others are more malicious and will distribute modified apps to give unpaid access to others as well. They can replicate an app, distribute to the market and shut it down a month later – but the harm will have been done.  

Then there are cheats. Once competition rises to the professional level, it doesn’t matter if the playing field is made of grass or computer graphics – it invites temptation to cheat, and therefore requires strict regulations.  

Cheats can modify the game code and use AI to get an upper hand. Techniques like ‘aimbots’ (which provide automated targeting in shooting titles) or ‘wallhacks’ (which make walled surfaces transparent or nonsolid) put a game’s integrity at risk. Without protected there could be an exodus of sponsors, spectators, and players alike.  

Protect your Apps and Code 

Luckily there is a solution. Application shielding of competitive eSports and tournaments can stop ‘modding’ and prevent API abuse with the client-server protocol so that in-game economy is preserved.  App shielding can also prevent someone from impersonating a player online.   

The eSports armory can include dark web scanning to reveal which titles are being hacked or cheated. Real-time monitoring can alert systems providers to take action as soon as there is a breach. 

Pirates, cheats and hackers may have moderately different motivations but they are all threats and all need to be thwarted.  The value of eSports rights might be low but as telcos and broadcasters compete strike deals to compete for the prized youth audience not only will rights become more lucrative but new gateways of attack are opened up.  

Compounding the issue is the complex structure of the eSports community. Sometimes it is games manufacturers and publishers which have most to gain from securing their IP. Responsibility could equally be the remit of a publishing platform or broadcaster or a tournament organizer. Yet those with the biggest stake, and those making least money, are the eSport’s league and teams.  

Streaming services have changed the way fans consume content – while inadvertently increasing the threat of piracy; the distribution of live sporting events is where the money is, and droves of bad actors are hot on the money trail in search of easy treasure.  

The threat of piracy is real and the imperative to protect the business for all should be urgent. Now is the time for rights holders and broadcasters to make piracy a priority and implement content protection as a key part of their business strategy.