The Rise of Esports
As far as we know, the first video game competition took place in 1972 at Stanford University for the game “Spacewar.” Players competed to win a year’s subscription to “Rolling Stone” magazine. Then later, in 1980, the first large-scale video game competition was held. The Space Invaders Championship, hosted by Atari. The event shockingly attracted more than 10,000 participants across the United States, creating an idea in the west and the rest of the world of what might be of this hobby turned professional sport.
Back then, no one could imagine how big it would become. Dota 2 having 40 million dollar prize pools, or the League of Legends World Championship eclipsing NBA Finals viewership, it’s clear now that Esports are here to stay. I wanted to examine the history and give some context before looking at the international trends in Wikipedia data to see the rise and international direction of the future of the sport. Wikipedia will give us a good metric to judge popularity and trends based on looking at revision history of different languages and attributing language to the places where that language is spoken.
The 1990s would mark the invention of the internet. This brought about a paradigm shift in how people played and viewed games. With the internet, players could compete against each other no matter where in the world they were. The internet would pave the way for the first online Esports competitions. Games like “Quake” and “StarCraft: Brood War” became synonymous with early Esports, with Starcraft in particular blowing up in Korea.
South Korea became the de facto home of Esports in the early 2000s, with the South Korean government creating the Korean e-Sports Association (KeSPA) in 2000 to regulate Esports in the country. The unprecedented launch of Esports channels like MBCGame and Ongamenet provided a place for players to actually become celebrities and for fans to watch competitions live.
As technology improved and broadband became the norm, the 2010s was a global boom in esports. Twitch, a live streaming video site was introduced in 2011. This allowed anyone to broadcast their gameplay, POV, and events. Viewership numbers for competitions began to compete with that of traditional sports.
During this period, a shift would happen in the global Esports scene. South Korea definitely had dominated the space early and provided a framework for its adaptation elsewhere, but China’s rapid growth in the online gaming sphere, alongside huge investments in the gaming industry, started to challenge this dominance. Chinese teams and players began rising to fame and prowess, especially in games like “League of Legends” and “Dota 2.”
Next to the rise of China was the increasing interest in Esports in Western countries, particularly in Europe and North America. English-speaking audiences began to grow massively as new competitive online games developed by American companies emerged like “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive” and “Overwatch”.. Major Esports events were held in large sporting arenas, and the concept of franchised leagues, making Esports more familiar to western audiences, began with the Overwatch League in 2018.
The Current Landscape
As of the early 2020s, the current landscape of Esports fan demographics has continued to change but mostly just grow, all over the world. South Korea, while still the mecca of the industry, no longer holds that monopoly on Esports. China has become the new landmark for growth, not just in terms of viewership and playerbase, but also in terms of infrastructure investment. The Chinese Esports audience has continued to grow steadily, with the country hosting some of the largest Esports events in the world, such as the League of Legends World Championship mentioned prior.
In contrast, the English-speaking audience, that being fans from the regions within North America, Europe, and other English-speaking regions, has also seen wild growth. This is due to a lot of factors, including the globalization of popular Esports titles, the establishment of regional leagues, and the increasing social acceptance and favor of the sport. The establishment of it as a legitimate form of entertainment and competition. Major television networks have also started to broadcast Esports events, and universities have begun offering scholarships to players
In analyzing the ratios of Korean to Chinese to English-speaking fans, we can see some trends emerge. Initially dominated by a Korean audience, the scene shifted as China’s Esports exploded in size, evident by the steady increase in Chinese revisions. You can see the moment where the Koreans really started revising and editing the wikipedia with that massive spike in the blue line! The increase in English-speaking fans has been less dramatic but still holding some bursts of popularity that rival that of China’s, this shows the global increase in the attractiveness of competitive gaming. Interesting though is how the ratios have settled out as of recently, where Chinese, Korean, and English revisions have mellowed out.
Conclusion
Esports has come a long way from the days of “Spacewar!” competitions at Stanford. It is now a global phenomenon that brings people and cultures together and has become a profitable and exciting facet entertainment industry. With China growing in size and commerce, will China continue to be the Powerhouse of Esports it has steadily shown itself to be? I am excited to see where we go from here and how big this can become!
