Maksym Krippa, owner of NAVI and head of the Ukrainian Esports Federation (UESF), shared his thoughts on the evolution of esports in Ukraine. In a conversation with BrandVoice from Forbes Ukraine, he noted that esports is rapidly moving beyond a niche hobby and gradually becoming part of the mainstream. According to him, public interest is growing steadily, and this is evident not only in the number of viewers.
Krippa emphasizes that the changes affect not only the audience’s attention but also the economic scale of the industry. Back in 2022, the Ukrainian esports market was estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars. And this figure is just the starting point. The investor is confident that the industry will continue to grow, and Ukraine has all the prerequisites to take a stable position among the leaders of the global esports market.
How esports developed in Ukraine
The Ukrainian esports scene began to take shape in the 1990s, when computer games were just becoming part of mainstream culture. In those days, gamers would gather in computer clubs, where they would spend their evenings playing shooters.
The participants in these local competitions were players who later became the faces of Ukrainian esports. Among them were Andriy Gorodensky, Yevgen Zolotaryov, Oleksiy Kucherov, and Amiran Rekhviashvili, who at the time were just enthusiasts, but later became managers of NAVI and other initiatives.
One of the first steps towards professionalization was the team where Yevgen Zolotaryov played — it was supported by GSC Game World, which provided salaries and work in a team of testers, combined with training.
At the turn of the 2000s, Ukraine began to gradually enter the international e-sports scene. The world held large-scale tournaments, including the Samsung World Cyber Games series. Ukrainian players also got involved: in 2009, the A-Gaming team with Gorodensky and Kucherov won bronze in the WCG finals, which was a significant event.
The rapid development of the internet was a big deal for the industry — esports went from just being in clubs to being a global thing. The online format made it easier to join tournaments, and the first event organizers popped up in Ukraine. In 2009, the NAVI team was founded, and in 2010, the All-Ukrainian GameXP tournament took place — the first steps towards a systematic approach in the industry.
How the modern esports market works
Maksym Krippa explains that the modern esports industry includes several key players: developers who create and control the rights to games; tournament organizers; clubs and broadcasters responsible for broadcasting. Each game functions within its own ecosystem with unique rules.
For example, Riot Games simultaneously develops the game and organizes championships, while Valve allows independent operators such as ESL or PGL to host CS or Dota 2 competitions, opening up more opportunities for teams and partnerships.
According to Krippa, broadcasting rights can be purchased by specialized studios such as Maincast, which has exclusive rights to broadcast top tournaments in Ukrainian. At the same time, in some cases, streamers are granted permission to broadcast without a license. He also emphasizes that teams should not be equated with organizations: a team can be part of a large multi-gaming structure or operate independently, and participation in tournaments is possible either through selection or by direct invitation.
How the NAVI brand is monetized in esports
In the early years of professional esports, clubs relied almost entirely on financial support from sponsors — in some cases, this accounted for up to 99% of their total revenue. Prize money had minimal impact, and any termination of a partnership could instantly paralyze a team’s operations: without funds for salaries and basic expenses, development became impossible.
Now the revenue model has changed significantly. According to Maksym Krippa, NAVI has a much broader financial base: approximately 30% comes from sponsorship contracts, the same amount from commercial partnerships, digital goods and royalties bring in about 20%, 15% is prize money, and the rest is merchandise sales.
For the players themselves, the main source of income is their salary from the club, a share of winnings, income from digital items and, with the club’s permission, individual contracts with brands, a share of which is also often returned to the organization’s budget. Entrepreneur Maksym Krippa also notes: 2024 was a particularly successful year for the NAVI CS team — in the summer alone, the team accumulated over 18.3 million hours of viewing time. The total annual figure reached 65.84 million, once again confirming NAVI’s status as one of the most popular esports clubs in the world. At the same time, he emphasizes that we are talking specifically about the Counter-Strike team, as NAVI is a large multi-gaming organization with 16 teams in various disciplines. However, it is the CS team that has held the top spot in terms of views for the fifth year in a row.
According to Krippa, one of the main reasons for the growth in audience numbers is generational renewal: young people are actively joining the industry, demonstrating stable growth in interest at a level of 30–40% per year. He believes that this is not just dry statistics, but a real indicator of the long-term development of virtual sports.
UESF strategy: commentary by Maksym Krippa
The NAVI team continues to maintain its position as the undisputed leader of the Ukrainian esports scene, even against the backdrop of dynamic growth from other clubs such as B8, Monte, Passion UA, and others. Based on this, the Ukrainian Esports Federation, led by its newly elected president Maksym Krippa, aims to create an environment in which all new players in the industry will have equal opportunities for development.
According to Krippa, the goal of the UESF is not to become a closed structure with formal powers, but to become an open platform for effective interaction between players, clubs, the state, and competition organizers.
The focus is on a transparent system of national championships, minimising bureaucracy, and actively promoting esports, from school and student leagues to projects for beginners and initiatives with a social component, such as support for veterans.
