BIG Launches Programme for German Esports Talents

Esports Organisation Berlin International Gaming (BIG) is launching its own talent development programme called BIG Selecta. The next step will be to plan an application process.

BIG has already accepted the first six talents into the new BIG Selecta programme for young talents. These are five talents from the esports player foundation and KungFu_AJ, who, according to BIG, was able to gain experience in Counter-Strike at an early age and has developed into one of the biggest talents in the German-speaking world, says BIG:

The new BIG Selecta programme is designed to further develop the skills of these players. In addition to financial support to enable the talented players to focus on esports, the programme also includes individual development plans with feedback sessions, participation in boot camps and events, media training and professional support from mentors.

"In the early 2000s, at the time of Counter-Strike 1.6, there was a pool of ten to twelve world-class players in Germany," says Roman Reinhardt, Chief Gaming Officer at BIG, explaining the motivation behind the development programme. "Nowadays, however, the German market looks very rare." With the programme, the esports organisation aims to create healthy competition that will produce many talents rather than a single dominant team in the national competition. "We are looking forward to supporting the next generation of esports stars on their way to success. Our goal is to effectively promote professional gaming in Germany and give young talent the opportunity to develop their full potential."

In order to achieve the greatest possible success, BIG is taking an unusual approach to this programme. The support plans are based on the availability of the talents to ensure the greatest possible consistency with school or training and not the other way around. The organisation is also open to cooperation with other talent programmes and explicitly allows the talents to pursue their playing career in parallel with support from other clubs. They are not obliged to commit themselves to BIG.

The next step, according to the Berliners, is to plan an application process that will give ambitious players the opportunity to secure a place in the talent programme.