Esports Life Tycoon is a surprisingly accurate esports sim

Olivia Richman Published 23/12/2019

You’ve accidentally starved animals in Zoo Tycoon and you’ve burned your house down in Sims. Now it’s time to create a low-tier esports team in Esports Life Tycoon.

This new game by U-Play Online transforms players into the CEO of an esports team looking to win the League of Heroes championship. Train against other teams. Deal with distractions and arguments before matches. Just remember, the success belongs to your players, and the coaches own the losses. At least, that’s what U-Play Online tells you.

Just how accurate is Esports Life Tycoon, really? And is it any fun?

True: Esports teams live together in a gaming house

In Esports Life Tycoon, you can slowly improve your team’s gaming house as you climb the ranks and earn more money. And that’s sort of how esports teams work in real life, too. These sometimes extravagant homes not only have spaces for the team to practice and train together, but a kitchen, a gym, a pool, and other luxuries. The goal of a gaming house is to help players bond even outside of practice and scrims, and to keep their nerves calm between games.

False: The players all sleep in the same bedroom

Yeah, not even many teams that are just starting out will have all of the players share one bedroom like they do in Esports Life Tycoon. Players in training, particularly at lower levels or in academy teams, have sometimes been required to share living space, but this is a less common practice today.

True: Teams control what their players eat

When PC Gamer reviewed Esports Life Tycoon, the writer said he just couldn’t bring himself to micromanage the team this far.

“Yes, I’ll make my [team] sleep in a room together if it means winning a fake esports trophy, but I’m not going to decide what they each have for breakfast. Eat what you want, PC Gamer writers. I’m letting you out of this gaming prison,” he wrote.

While it may sound extreme, esports organizations actually do have a say in what their players eat. While it may not be as strict as Esports Life Tycoon portrays it, many teams have their own personal chef who prepares meals for the team to eat together. Some organizationss even have nutritionists on staff, similar to traditional sports teams.

False: Teams stay in the gaming house 24/7

Unless you’re finally competing in a League of Heroes tournament, teams in Esports Life Tycoon basically stay within the house you’ve built for the entirety of the game. That’s where they eat, relax, train, and argue. While organizations do encourage togetherness so players can bond, one of the ways they aim to do that is through group activities outside of the gaming house. This can include bowling, go kart racing, dinner and a movie, or going to the beach.

True: Teams practice not only by playing games, but also studying them

Even though your team in Esports Life Tycoon will easily lose all of their energy from it, it’s a big part of the game to scou” other esports teams you’ll be competing against at upcoming tournaments. This means studying their strategies and play styles. Often led by the team’s coach, this is a very common part of training for esports teams, as well as scrims and working on communication.

In Esports Life Tycoon, players often spend most of their time training, with some relaxing by a TV in between to gain back lost energy. This is a little exaggerated, but most teams do actually train together for eight to ten hours a day. Some teams have even longer hours than that, but that’s becoming frowned upon since it’s typically bad for a player’s wellbeing, both physically and mentally.

Shanghai Dragons’ coach infamously admitted that they had 12-hour training days throughout Overwatch Season 1. They were also the worst team by far that entire season.

False: Esports team private investigators will visit your gaming house

In Esports Life Tycoon, a lot of strange situations will pop up to distract you and your team from practicing before tournaments. They had to think of something to spice up a game where nobody leaves the confines of the gaming house. One of the people players may encounter is a guy who calls himself an “esports team private investigator,” who you can pay to do some “hyper scounting servinces.” Basically, he will spy on other teams and study their strategies for you, leaving your team to focus on their chemistry and other matters.

But that’s not really a thing.

If you search the internet for an “esports private investigator” you’ll find that it’s not a thing anywhere, although there are people who will perform online game investigations like finding the identity behind that player who won’t stop harassing you in World of Warcraft. But yeah, don’t expect a random spy to come to your gaming house in real life and offer to do half the coaching for you. That’s just weird.

True: You can trade players with other teams

Just like in real life, you can trade your Esports Life Tycoon players if they refuse to get along with your other players or just plain suck at League of Heroes. In Esports Life Tycoon, you have to maintain a good relationship with other organizations to ensure that they’ll be open to the possibility of future trades.

True: Every player has their own unique skillset

Each player on your team has their own designated role in League of Heroes, including jungler and bot laner. It’s basically a Leauge of Legends rip-off, if you weren’t aware by now. But Esports Life Tycoon goes even further than assigning each player a role on the team. They also all have stats for “attack,” “dodge,” “damage,” and “shields.” As you gain skill points, you can assign it to any of the four you wish.

False: You don’t even have to play in the tournament

In Esports Life Tycoon, your only chance to escape the game house is competing in a tournament. But many players choose to simply “resolve match” once they get to that point in the game instead of playing out the match themselves. And that’s because the game is so boring that you’re probably better off getting back to the house to watch your team play on their phones.

This may come as a shocker, but you can’t actually skip matches in real life. Teams actually have to go out and play out the match, not just have a better chance of winning than their opponents. Because in real life, even the team with an 80% chance of winning can lose. That’s part of the thrill of esports: watching the matches. In Esports Life Tycoon, not so much.

True: Getting your team’s name out there is important

When you start out in Esports Life Tycoon, your status is “unknown.” You will also be able to see how many followers you have in the top left corner, which you can look at every now and then to remind yourself how far behind your team still is. But you can change all of that by generating “hype.”

Just like in real life, having fans is quite important to esports teams in this game. It’s also a way to make even more money. And just like in real life, your team creates hype by getting in front of the camera and creating content for fans. It’s surprisingly accurate. The team must also go to events being run by their sponsors.

Whether it be YouTube series, web cartoons, short Twitter videos, or even a quick photo, esports organizations understand that the more the esports community feels connected to fans, the more support they’ll have. And Esports Life Tycoon understands this, too.

True: You can run out of money

Echo Fox and Galatasaray Esports have entered Esports Life Tycoon.

Olivia Richman

About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

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