Sporting Chance: eSports The Highly Lucrative Gaming Industry

100TB.com
100TB.com
Aug 8, 2017 · 3 min read

Many people may be unfamiliar with the term eSports. Not to be confused with eGaming (online gambling and betting), eSports is a burgeoning industry where computer games are played competitively for money. eSports involves serious money as well — the industry is presently valued at $450 million, which is impressive considering it’s effectively nothing more than tribes of young (mostly) men wrestling games controllers and assaulting PC keyboards.

Is eSports A Sport?

It’s believed that eSports can trace its lineage back to early networked games like Doom and Worms Armageddon, though the genre’s popularity has exploded in recent years. Debate rages about whether this can officially be classed as a sport, but the official definition of that word (“an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment”) does seem somewhat fitting. Ironically, the dominant genres aren’t sporting ones; games like FIFA and NBA remain on the fringes, albeit tipped for greater prominence this year. Instead, the industry is presently dominated by first-person shooters and multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games.

eSports Graduate to Professional Level

As finance and sponsorship has poured into eSports, its participants have progressed from enthusiastic amateurs to full-time professionals in branded teams with dedicated managers. Many players receive a salary in addition to any competition prize funds, while their corporate polo shirts are plastered in blue-chip sponsorship logos. Their ultimate goal is to qualify for tournaments, where teams and individuals compete in vast indoor arenas packed with spectators.

From League of Legends to the Intel Extreme Masters, domestic and international eSports competitions are the gaming equivalent of rock concerts — streamed around the world and featuring household-name participants. These cyberathletes have dedicated their lives to studying MMORPG and MOBA games, often practicing twelve hours a day, seven days a week. Their every move and decision is soundtracked by teams of tournament commentators, known as casters, and roared on by knowledgeable audiences. Last year, The International 5 (a Dota 2 tournament) had a prize fund of $17 million — huge sums by anyone’s standards — and enough to dwarf many long-established sporting tournaments.

Will eSports Become a Mainstream Industry?

While a few dedicated professionals are able to participate in these tournaments, this burgeoning industry is underpinned by the huge online audiences for eSports in all its many forms. Amazon-owned Twitch has over 100 million unique monthly users, while YouTube Gaming claims monthly audiences of 200 million. Nor is this a first world phenomenon, with the Asian Pacific market hosting more regular viewers than Europe and North America combined. Viewing platforms range from basic live streaming to sophisticated channels providing live information even the participants themselves are unaware of — similar to the Opta stats flashed up during football matches.

While LANs represent a gold standard for seamless streaming, the advent of high speed internet connectivity and 60fps stream rates has made the viewing experience far less laggy or prone to breakup. A remarkable 36 million people streamed last year’s League of Legends World Final — up by a third on the 2014 figure — and reflects a growth that continues to surpass expectations year on year. Indeed, the explosion in audience numbers has led some industry analysts to claim eSports has as much potential as the mobile gaming industry. It will be fascinating to see whether eSports manages to become a truly mainstream industry, though the signs certainly look promising.

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Originally published at blog.100tb.com.

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