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A new six-part documentary series, co-produced with Kaspersky and devoted to online gaming, esports and the pertinent security issues around them premiers on Euronews, Europe’s leading international news channel.
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The gaming industry has been enjoying its glory days for the past couple of years. Valued at $198.4 billion in 2021, the gaming market is expected to almost double by 2027, reaching about $340 billion. The competitive gaming — esports — is on the rise as well, with estimations anticipating 577.2 million viewers of esports worldwide by 2024.
With these entertainment industries well into their prime and drawing huge audiences, questions have been raised about potential cybersecurity risks and how to stay secure in this digital reality. The new hacker:HUNTER series looks to provide some of the answers.
The documentary tells six different stories of gamers, esports players, and ethical hackers from the United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Spain and India. Being of different backgrounds and different ages, the individuals have all had to deal with cybersecurity issues associated with gaming in some way or another. The first episode, ‘Gold Rush’, has premiered on Euronews TV and Euronews Next recently, the rest will follow.
Three directors — Hugo Berkeley, Didi Mae Hand, and Lara Maysa Ingram — have joined together hands to create this new ‘Next Level’ series. Berkeley, who is also the hacker:HUNTER show creator, and Hand, have previously worked together on the hacker:HUNTER documentaries about the WannaCry ransomware attack, Carbanak group and attacks on the healthcare sector during the pandemic.
“Playing games is in our DNA – but it isn’t always innocent child’s play when you’re online. We’ve met small kids who told us they were burnt out from playing, and came across young people who thought they had done something clever until the FBI kicked down their doors. We were there when an esports professional crumbled under the pressure he felt. And with every person we spoke to, we understood that the gaming industry, social platforms, security companies and governments have a huge task ahead of them: returning innocence to online gaming,” comments Rainer Bock, hacker:HUNTER’s Executive Producer.
Watch all hacker:HUNTER episodes here.
