Gaming and eSports Observatory was created to record and share data about this industry in Portugal – Computers

The inauguration of an association dedicated to the study of the gaming and eSports industry in the country was announced today in Óbidos. O OGE: Gaming and eSports Observatory aims to respond to a need and a lack that exists in several European countries, including Portugal, which is the absence of factual and reliable data about this industry.

In an interview with SAPO TEK, anticipating the presentation, Rui Jesus, president of the OGE general assembly, highlights that the concept exists in other areas, such as health, justice, etc. The role that the association proposes is to observe, understand, in a current and short-term way, the state of gaming and eSports in Portugal, both in terms of the market, the social reality and even what this industry means and represents in the country.

It also proposes to respond to something that I was diagnosed with a long time ago: the lack of concrete data about this reality. “O observatory was born from a suggestion from the European Union since November 2022 so that in each country mechanisms can be established to create a real portrait of the gaming and eSports sector”, says Rui Jesus. Furthermore, the association will also be what its members wish to do.

The presentation in Óbidos, the municipality that hosted the initiative, becoming the project headquarters. Rui Jesus hopes that the project will benefit the region, but above all be useful to the entire country.

O OGE invites all players and associates to join together to contribute real and reliable data about the industry in Portugal, being an open and aggregating association for all protagonists in the area. The observatory is interested in collecting and analyzing data, whether from public and private entities, brands that wish to invest in eSports, young people who want to start their business activity and invest in the area.

“How will they get to know the area? Currently they research the news and ask people who understand the subject. But there is no real and official data, something that has been diagnosed in Portugal for a long time”, explains Rui Jesus.

It makes a comparison with the gaming data that exists on the international scene, largely due to the work of agencies. But in Portugal there is no such work and what there is is private data, provided to the respective companies in the sector. The difference that the observatory wishes to make is regarding the public utility of these collected data.

And he gives as an example that it is not enough to just record the international achievements of the main national teams, such as SAW’s presence in the Major for the first time. “We must also look at the other side of the coin, try to understand the reason for the closure of Offset last year, one of the most solid national organizations, as well as the youngest, but also important, Fourteen Esports”. Rui Jesus says that OGE intends to bring together all this data to provide answers to the questions that are often asked.

The president of the general assembly also points to the legal issues linked to the sector, pointing out that it is not yet regulated, that there has been no public intervention by the State. It not only aims to streamline the sector to attract companies and investment, but also to provide a counterpoint, to find rules to operate in the sector. Apart from general business laws, there is no specific regulation for this sector. This will then be the mission of the Gaming and eSports Observatory.